Couldn't be Helped
by blockthewriter
Summary: After Link wakes up and is told the fate of Hyrule rests in his hands, he needs to get off the Great Plateau and find his way to Kakariko Village. He ends up helping a girl, and she offers to show him the way.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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**Updated 4/13/20**

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Link was tired.

It was dark, save for a spot of light above him that definitely wasn't there before. It was bright and getting brighter. It was...annoying. A high pitched humming reached his ears, and then a muffled noise. A voice.

"/...Open your eyes.../"

As if the voice cued it, the light got stronger.

The bright light consumed his vision until it was all he could see, chasing away the darkness. The humming got louder, piercing through his skull uncomfortably.

"/Open your eyes.../"

The light began to fade, taking the humming with it, turning into a florescent blue.

"/Open your eyes./"

He opened them.

The blue took shape into some kind of pattern above him. They were still too bright. He closed his eyes again.

"/Wake up, Link./"

He didn't realize he had lost his sense of touch until it suddenly came back to him. He was in water, submerged so the only thing above the surface was his face.

He blinked a few times, trying to get used to the lighting above him, which wasn't as bright as he had intially thought. It still gave him a headache, though.

The water around him began to recede, flowing away until he was left laying in some type of empty basin. He sat up and looked around.

He was in a room, some chamber of sorts. The walls were dotted with faint red lights, connected by thin white lines. There was odd, winding gold patterns etched into big stone pillars and in the basin, and looking up he saw they were in the weird canopy thing above him, too. He also noticed the way the blue light pulsed now. It was soft and slow, but made it a bit harder to look around.

He moved to the side, reaching for the side of the basin and pulling himself up and out of it. His limbs felt numb, and when he stood on his feet it felt like a thousand needles were being poked into his legs, like he hadn't moved for years.

Water dripped off of him onto the floor, which was covered in the same gold pattern as the basin. Looking up, he saw the canopy that had been above him stretched down from the ceiling like a water drop about to fall, laced with the odd blue light.

The dots on the walls, he realized, reminded him of stars. Constellations, he remembered.

The gold pattern on the floor lead directly ahead of him to a large, closed door. Next to the door was a pedastal, glowing with a blue circular pattern. He approached it, noticing the rectangular object embedded into the center of the pedestal, and ran his fingers along it. Maybe he could pry it out?

He pulled his hand back, though, when the blue light pulsed. The center of the pedestal rose up with the sound of scraping stone, and spun clockwise. The rectangle in the middle of it flipped over and raised itself vertically with a click.

It had the design of an eye on it, glowing blue with orange lines and markings around it that pulsed in and out. It raised itself once more, like it was beckoning him to take it.

"/That is a Sheikah Slate./"

This time, his jumped when he heard the voice. He looked around, wondering where the voice had come from. No one else was with him.

"/Take it/," the voice said. It was a girl's voice, high and soft. "/It will help guide you after your long slumber?/"

Long slumber? How long was he asleep? He felt like he could take another nap right then and there.

Hesitating, he reached forward and plucked it off of the pedastal, flipping it over to look at the other side and turning it horizontally in his hands.

The other side, which he initially thought was blank, lit up, showing the same design that was on the back, except in all blue on an otherwise black screen.

It was really familiar.

He clipped it onto the belt at his side, and the center of the pedestal clicked, whirred, spun back to it's original place, and then sunk back into the stone.

The door, which was really just individual stone pillars placed side by side, began to rise up into the ceiling, opening him up to a new room.

The next room, or hallway, was foggy. He stepped into it and around an old wooden barrel that stood in the way. Glancing in it, he saw it was empty. There was another barrel, a few wooden crates, and two chests before him.

He went to the first chest and opened it up. Inside it was nothing except a pair of old pants. Deciding it was better than just what he had on (nothing but his undergarments) he slipped them on. Despite looking seriously worn out and being a bit too short, they were comfortable. The next chest had an equally worn out shirt, but he put it on nonetheless.

He went down the short slope that led to another door, this one a lot bigger than the last, and saw another pedestal. He went up to it, wondering what it would do now that he already had a Sheikah Slate.

"/Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal/," the voice instructed. He jumped again. "/That will show you the way./"

He did as the voice asked him, unhooking the slate from his belt and waving it over the glowing circle in the middle of the pedestal. The orange lights on it disappeared, leaving behind just the blue.

An emblem on the door that he hadn't noticed before, with the same design as his Sheikah Slate, lit up with the blue light. The large door began to open, and bright rays of light peaked into the room.

He stepped into the light, shielding his eyes that were still accustomed to dim lighting, and stared ahead of him. Judging from the way his skin warmed when the light touched him, he figured it wasn't just light. It was the sun.

"/Link/," the voice said to him. He didn't jump this time. "/You are the light—our light—that must shine upon Hyrule once again./"

Link. That was him. Out of everything the voice just said, that was the one thing that didn't throw up a question mark. It was his name, tried and true. It settled in his head like it knew it belonged there.

But that was it. Everything else was...familiar, but it didn't mean anything to him. He couldn't find anything that reached out to him. He tried to remember. The voice, clearly they knew him. But who was it? Where were they? And Hyrule, was that a place? A town? It didn't ring any bells. And what did she mean once again?

He tried to think back, but the first thing he remembered was waking up a few minutes ago in that chamber. It was like whatever happened before that was sealed off by a stone door, one that the Sheikah Slate couldn't open.

He didn't remember anything.

He didn't have anything.

Only his name.

"/Now, go/," the voice told him.

Link moved forward, up the old stone steps towards...whatever was at the end of the tunnel, only to stop when he reached the top. Or...what shouldn't have been the top.

It looked like a large chunk had been taken out of the steps. Now there was just dirt, grass, and a big puddle he didn't want to step in. He went on, though, thankful that the pants were too short. The water couldn't reach the hems of the cloth.

After the puddle was a stone ledge that was a little bit taller than him, which he climbed up easily enough. He went up the rest to the stairs and exited the tunnel. He could see the edge of a cliff from where he was, and ran to it, taking in the fresh air and the feeling of the breeze on him.

The view the cliff gave him was...breath taking. Below him and off in the distance was a great expansion of land. Directly ahead of him was a great castle, surrounded by water and fields and meadows. There were mountains and cliffs, what looked to be ancient ruins, and even a huge volcano.

He turned to his right, getting the sudden feeling that someone was watching him, and saw an ancient looking temple in the distance. But closer to him, standing at the edge of the same cliff but further down, was a figure.

They were hooded, and he saw no defining features except the thick white beard that hung down over his chest. Even though Link couldn't see his face, he knew the man was looking right at him. After a moment, though, he turned around and began to walk off.

Link hesitated, before starting to run. The feeling of pins and needles slowly faded away as he got used to moving around. He wanted to talk to the man. Looking at him from a distance he felt no spark of recognition, but maybe if he saw him face to face he would know who he was. Maybe the man could tell him where he was and what was going on.

.

As it turned out, the old man could definitely tell him where he was. And he could /definitely/tell him what was going on.

After a few days of completeing shrines, he finally learned that the old man was, in fact, the spirit of King Rhoam of Hyrule (definitely a place), and was now equipped with a trusty paraglider, some Runes, and the fate of the world in his hands.

Wonderful.

After leaving the Temple of Time and the spirit of the King, he took a moment to sit down. He thought about everything that happened and that he had learned since waking up. After a few frustrating hours contemplating life as he knew it (he didn't know much), Link decided he did not like thinking.

At all.

He ended up sitting by a fire that had previously been surround by bokoblins (he'd been dealing with those more than he would care for) for the remainder of the day and through the night. He wasn't very tired at all.

A hundred year nap could do that to a person.

In the morning, he made his way to the very edge of the Great Plateau. Looking down, he realised the King was very right in assuming jumping without a paraglider wouldn't be so fun.

Link still figured that anyone would be scared to jump over the edge even with a paraglider. He was slightly unnerved to realize that he wasn't too worried about throwing himself over the edge with nothing but a piece of cloth to catch his fall.

While looking around and trying to spot a good place to land, he spotted four figures running around below. He used his Sheikah Slate to scope it out and saw that it was three bokoblins and a young woman.

The girl didn't look to be struggling at all while fending off the monsters. She definitely knew more about what she was doing than Link when he first woke up. She had a sword and a shield that looked more sturdy than any that he'd found, and she was quick on her feet.

Link knew she had it under control. Her sword swung in swift arches, hitting it's marks and backing the bokoblins away from her. She stabbed the one nearest to her straight through the chest and pulled the blade up just in time to block an oncoming club. She clearly had it handled.

But still...that didn't mean he was just going to sit there and watch her get attacked.

It was probably the hero in him that King Rhoam had told him about. The appointed Knight of Princess Zelda, strong and courageous. Despite the fact that Link didn't know who that hero was, it was clear he was still somewhere in there, trapped behind the walls retaining his memories.

The hero told Link he couldn't just watch. He couldn't ignore it. He had to help.

His brand new paraglider sailed him from the top of the Great Plateau to the ground below. Just as the girl beheaded the second bokoblin, he circled down and landed straight on top of the third. Ignoring the startled yelp the girl made, he pulled the wooden spear he had pulled from another monster earlier, and plunged it straight into the bokoblin's throat.

It choked, and died a second later, it's skin turning black until it faded into a pile of dust below him.

"Where the hell did you come from?!"

He looked up to the girl, who was standing in the black remains of the other monster.

The first thing he took in about her (aside from her mass of curly hair, that seemed normal) were her eyes. They were red. Was /that/ normal?

They were also staring at him, wide open and her sword was held limply in her grasp. He pulled himself up to his full height and used his wooden spear to point up towards the towering cliff side above them.

She followed his gesture, and if it was possible her eyes bugged even more.

"From up there?" She looked back to him. "What are you—a /bird/? How'd you survive that drop?"

"Not a bird," he said, furrowing his eyebrows before pulling out his paraglider. Her expression shifted from confusion to curiosity, and she took a few steps forward, monster dust trailing after her.

"A paraglider? Weird. I've never actually seen one." She nodded before taking a step back and putting her hands on her hips. "That's pretty neat. Would help a lot. Especially if you wanted to climb those towers."

She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at one of the big towers in the distance. "I climbed that one when it first came up. Was a fucking nightmare trying to get down."

He stared over her shoulder at the tower, wondering if he should go to it before heading to Kakariko Village, before looking at her and nodding. She furrowed her eyebrows and cocked her head.

"Not a talker?" she asked. Clearly, she wasn't expecting an answer, as she carried on without a pause. "I don't blame you. I try not to talk to too many people. Those Yiga Clan members are a pain in the ass. You're an exception, because you literally dropped out of the sky."

"Yiga Clan?" he asked. Her eyebrows rose a bit, before she shrugged.

"I don't suppose they'd know how to get up there, so you probably haven't met any yet," she said. "They're usually on the side of the road or something, and when you talk to them they'll ask you one thing or another about their clan. Usually ask you to join. If you refuse, they kill you."

The look on his face must have been a bit funny, because she snorted and shook her head. "Well, they try. Don't really get anywhere with it. They've got neat outfits and carry sickles, and their teleportation powers are pretty sweet, but they've got no real fighting skills to show for it."

"Oh," he said, looking off down the road. He should probably get going.

"My name's Kaz, by the way," she introduced herself, holding out her hand. "Thanks for the help."

He looked at her hand, small and dirty, before accepting it. "Link. And you're welcome."

"Nice to meet you, Link," she said. She bobbed her head towards the monster parts left behind in the black dust, her black curls bouncing with the movement. "I'd keep those monster parts, they can sell for a few rupees."

He watched her kneel down and pick out some horns from the pile of dust behind her, and went to do the same from his own. When he stood up, she was facing him with an armful of monster parts.

"Here, you can have these, too," she said, dumping the horns into his own arms. "A thanks for helping me out."

He hesitated, unsure if he should accept them or not, before putting them in his bag.

She was watching him when he looked back up, and she tilted her head with a smile. She was cute, he thought.

"Seriously though, thanks," she said once more, putting her hands on her backpack straps. "I'll see you around someday, maybe."

She spun on her heel, black hair swinging behind her. She obviously had a destination in mind. Her steps were leading towards the dirt path faded into to ground, and her general direction were that of the twin peaks in the distance.

Isn't that where the King told him to go?

"Wait!" he said suddenly, taking a few quick steps towards her. She turned halfway back to him and raised an eyebrow. "Kakariko Village," he said. "Do you know how to get there?"

She nodded, turning her head towards the summits. "Sure do. Just follow this path towards Dueling Peaks." She turned back to him and shrugged. "It's basically on the way to where I'm headed. I can show you the way."

He hesitated. Should he go with her? Or would that be dragging her into something she didn't need to be involved in? Something about the whole situation, from the very moment Link woke up, seemed to be one big red flag. He could put her in danger. Anyone, for that matter. Would it be wise for her to tag along?

She's not really tagging along, he reasoned. They're just going in the same direction for a bit.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"It's no problem," she reassured him. "It's literally in the same direction."

After another moment of him debating internally, she turned all the way towards him.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," she said. "It's really not a big deal. You'll reach the peaks in less than a day, longer if you're going slow. Follow the path through them, head past the stable, and there should be a sign directing you to Kakariko or Hateno. Kakariko's on the left."

With that, she turned around again, with nothing but a "good luck" thrown over her shoulder.

Link sighed.

It really wasn't a big deal. And it wasn't like there were rules against having company for a bit. He'd walk with her until their paths split, and then that would be all.

No problem.

Silently, he jogged to catch up to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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**Updated 4/14/20**

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They talked little to none as they followed the dirt trodden path that wound itself through the land. Kaz had only smiled at him when he caught up with her, and since then had been the only one to speak when she saw something that piqued her interest.

She pointed out different plants that they passed, or old ruins and places. However, Link noticed that she never seemed to be actually talking to him directly. She just said it openly, like now that she had company she voiced her thoughts out loud instead of in her head.

Or maybe she was crazy and she did the same thing even when people weren't with her.

Doubtful. He didn't think she was crazy, but he did admit it was a bit weird how willing she was to travel with someone she had just met. She had suggested it herself. He figured that in times like these, where Calamity Ganon was still at large and monsters were apparently more dangerous, people would be a lot more careful about who they traveled with.

Or maybe he was wrong and everyone banded together as a united front with the looming threats.

But then she had mentioned something about a Yiga Clan. Just random people on the side of the roads that tried to murder others. With that as a distinct possibility he would /definitely/think that people wouldn't be so quick to trust.

Could he say she trusted him? She had also said that she tried to avoid talking to people if she could. He was the exception. He supposed that "dropping out of the sky" as she had put it, and helping kill an enemy could put him in her good books. She must have at least trusted him not to kill her then.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as she suddenly stuck her arm out right in front of him, pointing off to his right.

"Horses!" she exclaimed.

Link followed her pointed finger to an area of the field not to far from where they were at. There were three horses, as she had said, grazing around one another lazily.

He was kind of amazed. The only living things he had really come across so far were the monsters, an occasional bird, and Kaz. (He couldn't count the King, for obvious reasons). Seeing the horses doing something as simple as standing in a field reassured him a bit. Nature was still able to run it's course.

"We can tame them," Kaz said, cocking her hip and putting a hand on it. "That'll get us to Kakariko plenty fast. We could probably reach a stable before nighttime."

"Tame them?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the horses. He knew people rode horses, that just seemed common knowledge, but wild horses? Then again, he supposed all horses were once wild.

This whole lost memory thing was getting in his nerves. He felt nearly stupid for not remembering certain things.

"Yeah. It's not too hard, in theory," she told him, scratching her head. She pursed her lips and gestured towards the animals. "You've just gotta sneak up behind them and jump on, then calm them down before they throw you off."

Link gave her a look, and she laughed.

"Just follow me," she said, waving him along. She gave the horses a wide birth until they were behind two of them at a distance. Then, she crouched down and signaled for him to do the same, before carefully sneaking up on the horses.

Link watched, curious and doubtful, as Kaz crept up behind the shorter of the two horses. He was more doubtful of her being able to actually jump on the horse in general. She was about he same height as him, but he wasn't even sure if he could jump up onto one.

Unaware of Link's thoughts, when she was about five feet away she took two large, running jumps and sprung herself up from her heels. She placed her hands on it's rump and used them to push herself all the way on to it.

Almost immediately, the horse reared back onto it's hindlegs, nearly dumping Kaz straight off and effectively scaring the other horses away. Kaz let out a yelp before leaning forward as far as she could and petting the horse's neck, cooing and whispering to it until it settled down.

As it's front legs touched back down into the grass, Kaz sat up straight and grinned, running her hand down it's mane. "See, easy enough." She looked around and spotted one of the other horses that hadn't ran too far away.

"Think you could get that one?" she asked him.

Link gave the horse a skeptical look before nodding. No offense to Kaz, but he figured that if she could do it, he would be able to, too.

He was wrong.

Sneaking up on the horse was easy enough. It wasn't too far away and it didn't notice Link at all as he crept up behind it. Jumping onto the horse was easier than he had thought, too. He just never got a chance to tame it.

Practically as soon as he jumped on, the horse was rearing back and bucking him right off. He hit the ground in a heap, and heard the horse run off accompanied by Kaz's muffled laughs.

Sitting up, he gave her a quick glare, to which she stopped laughing. He still saw her struggling not to smile, though. He climbed back up to his feet and spotted the horse quite a bit aways now.

"Try that one," Kaz told him, pointing to the third horse that was a few yards away from her. Nodding, he repeated the same steps.

This time, he managed to stay on the horse and successfully calm it down. When he sat up straight, satisfied that the horse decided to listen for the most part, Kaz trotted up beside him.

"Good work," she said. "When we get to the stable we can probably register these. Get saddles and stuff, if you want to keep it."

He shrugged, petting the horse's neck. "We'll see." Kaz smiled and turned forward.

"Onwards we go."

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It had been a few hours since they found the horses, and the sun was positioned directly above them, when Kaz spoke up again excitedly.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, leaning forward on her horse as she squinted at something in the distance. "It's glowing now!"

Link followed her gaze to see a shrine located next to an old stone bridge. He remembered King Rhoam, back when he thought he was just an old man living on the Great Plateau, told him the shrines had lit up when the towers rose out of the ground. He assumed this was the first time she saw one since then.

"It's a shrine," he said out loud, drawing in her attention.

She hummed an affirmative, nodding. "Yeah, but they've never glowed before. I wonder if that means people can go in them now?"

Link didn't say anything to that, and they rode on towards the shrine. Once they were there, they both got off of the horses and Kaz patted her's on it's side.

"I guess we'll just have to hope they don't run away," she shrugged, frowning. "Hopefully nothing scares them off."

She stepped away from the horse and up the stone steps to the shrine, walking over to the pedestal as the right of it's door. She ran her fingers over it before snapping.

"These look like that pedestal that was on top of that tower!" she exclaimed like she had just remembered it. "No wonder they look so familiar."

Then she frowned and looked a bit put off. "That means we don't have the thing to power it up, or whatever. I figured the towers need one, and if this is the same pedestal, that must mean we can't get into it."

Link stepped up next to her and unclipped the Sheikah Slate from his belt, before holding it over the pedestal.

"Whoa, what is that?" she asked as the pedastal's lights turned blue.

He backed away and onto the circle marking on the middle of the platform, that also began to glow a similar blue, and Kaz gasped.

"Holy Hylia," she muttered, turning to look as the door to the shrine broke apart to reveal a small room with a similar blue circle on the floor. "How'd you know that would work? Have you been in one of these before?"

He nodded.

She gave him a curious look before glancing to the shrine. "You know, they say that these shrines were meant for the hero that was destined to save Hyrule."

He dropped his gaze to the floor, and she must have understood his silence as him asking not to talk about it. She nodded, accepting that, before taking a few steps back to stand beside him before gesturing towards the shrine.

"Go on. I'll wait out here with the horses," she told him. He was a bit surprised. Judging on her excitement, he had almost expected her to demand to go along.

She watched as he entered the small little room and turned back to face her. She smiled as the blue lights lit up around him and the circle in the floor started to sink lower, and he caught her give him a small wave before she disappeared from view.

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When Link came out of the shrine with another spirit orb in his possession, he spotted Kaz sitting on the ground atop of a small hill in front of the shrine. One of their horses were gone and she held a small rock in the palm of her hand.

He watched, a bit confused on why she was staring so intently at it, when it suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue light. His eyebrows raised, and he watched her looked around on the ground for a moment in frustration, before she groaned and flopped back into the grass.

Her attention was caught when the top of the shrine turned from orange to blue. She looked over and grinned when she saw him, hurrying to stand up and make her way over.

"Alright," she said as she approached. She pointed to the top of the shrine and said, "That was pretty cool. Didn't take too long, you were in there for a little over twenty minutes I think. In those twenty minutes I /did/ managed to lose my horse."

She looked to the ground and muttered under her breath, "/Stupid fox./"

He blinked at her before shrugging. Judging from how she was acting, she either didn't know he saw her make the rock disappear, or didn't care. He considered asking her about it, but she pointed over to the bridge before he could.

"It's fine, though. Even on feet we could walk from Proxim Bridge to the Dueling Peaks stable before nightfall."

He nodded, turning his sights to the bridge. "We can leave this horse, then. Don't need it," he said. She gave him a curious look before shrugging and walking towards the bridge.

It was a large, old stone bridge with vines and moss growing along the sides that had cracks and large chunks taken out of it. There were little stone pillars spaced out along the sides that had fires in them, presumably for nighttime.

Further on the bridge, looking over the left side of it with a hand to shield his eyes, was a man that looked to be a bit older than them, muttering to himself.

"The end is here..." Link heard him say to himself as they approached. He didn't notice Kaz's hesitence to do so and walked up to the man without thinking much of it.

"I may be somewhat used to seeing bad omens by now, but that... Well let's just say that's badder than most."

A second later, he remembered what she had said about Yiga Clan members, but by then it was too late. The man had already noticed them.

He stood up straight and turned to them, a bit of panic laced into he features. "We're doomed!" he exclaimed. Link saw Kaz relax out of the corner of his eye. "I mean, don't panic! Sorry, who are you? Have we met?"

"Uh, we're-" she started, but the man cut her off.

"Well, doesn't matter who you are, really," he said. She looked mildly affronted at his words, but if he noticed he didn't say anything. "I was getting tired of talking to myself, so you've come at a good time."

Link and Kaz gave each other sideways glances, and he mildly regretted stopping to talk to this guy.

"By the by, those strange things that popped out of the ground... Did you see them?" He didn't give them a chance to answer. "I'm not talking about mushrooms, here! I'm talking about those towers! They seem to have popped up all over the place."

They followed his gaze over their shoulder to a tower in the distance.

"And that's not the only strange thing that's happened," he added. "Those long-deserted shrines suddenly started glowing! You know what this means, don't you?"

They turned back to look at him and Link shook his head.

"The end is here!" he exclaimed. "With all this craziness happening, I've been keeping an eye on that thing. Just to see if it suddenly starts moving or something, ya know?"

"What thing?" Kaz asked, looking around.

"I'm talking about that gaurdian, of course!" he said like she was stupid. He pointed over the edge of the bridge to an old guardian off on a little sandbar down the shore that looked like it had crashed there. "Haven't you heard the old stories about Hyrule? See that thing over there? The one shaped like an overturned urn. /That/ is what I'm talking about."

"I know what they are," Kaz said in annoyance, crossing her arms.

"Did you know some of them can move?" he asked, ignoring her. "One of them once chased me down and tried to kill me!"

"This one here?" Link asked skeptically.

"No, it was a different one. That one was closer to the castle but before the forest..." He told Link. "When they spot you they shoot blue beams of light at you! Man, I was so sure that was the end of me. I was prepared for the worst. But I somehow managed to escape into the nearby woods."

He paused for a moment before asking, "Think it was my lightning-fast reflexes that saved me?" Kaz scoffed under her breath.

"Ha, I wish," the man said, oblivious to her clear distaste. "Truth is, I just got lucky. Anyway, I hear Gaurdians like that still wander around Hyrule Castle. Be careful."

With that, he turned back to stare at the guardian that clearly wouldn't be moving anytime soon, and Link and Kaz moved on.

She waited until they were off the bridge to say anything. "You know..." she started, kicking a small rock on the path and looking up to him. "I don't like him much."

Link shook his head with a small smile.

.

As they got closer to Dueling Peaks, Link noticed one of the towers over on the other side of the river more towards the summits. He pointed to it, catching Kaz's attention.

"I need to get up there."

"Oh, does your little thingy work on those, too?" she asked him. He nodded. "When we get closer to it we could cross over. Maybe see if there's some rocks in the water to go over on."

He nodded, agreeing with the idea before nodding towards the forest.

"See the smoke?" There was a steady plume of it rising from the trees.

"Yeah. It's either a monster camp or a fire some traveller built," she said with a shrug. "Guess we'll find out."

She seemed completely nonchalant about the possibility of some enemies, and continued forward on the path, taking in her surroundings.

They entered the forest and she took the time to climb up the first tree and pick all the apples. When he asked why she needed so many, she dropped one down to him and said, "You can /never/have too many apples. They help out in a pinch."

As they went further in she pointed out the different plants and stuff that grew, always giving him some of the mushrooms she picked from the bases of trees.

Soon enough, they found a monster camp on the edge of the forest near the river bank, but it wasn't where the smoke they had spotted earlier was coming from.

They had a chest on top of one of their look out towers, so Kaz suggested they raid the camp.

"It's easy," she said at his indecisive look. "There's like, five of them."

"Shouldn't we avoid it if we can?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

She shook her head. "Chances are they'll see us crossing the river if we don't handle them now. They'll shoot at us and if we fall in we could drown."

That wasn't true and they both knew it. They could go down along the shore far enough to not be noticed, but Link agreed in the end.

He /was/ curious about what was in that chest, and he wanted to see if she would use her magic or whatever it was that she had used on that rock earlier.

Her first part of the plan, which Link would execute because he had a bow, would be to shoot down the bokoblin on watch. If it sounded it's horn, it would alarm the rest of them as to where they were.

He missed the first time he tried to shoot the gaurd, and they had to duck down behind a rock to avoid being seen because it looked in their direction. Kaz didn't seem put off by his aim and told him to try again. He hit it the second time and she nodded.

"Alright. See those red barrels? Those are basically explosives," she told him. He didn't bother telling her that he already knew that. "Do you have any fire arrows?"

He shook his head.

"Okay. We'll have to find some other way to blow those up." She began to dig around in her back. "Maybe I have some flint. We could start a fire and then light the tips of your arrows. Or if we wanted to avoid the stealth option completely, we could just barrel in. Either way we take them by surprise."

As she was speaking, Link used one of the runes on his Sheikah Slate to pull up a bomb. She looked up at the flash of blue light and her mouth dropped a bit as he heaved the bomb above his head.

"/Where/ did that come from?" she asked him.

He gave her a small smirk and launched the bomb just outside of the circle of bokoblins.

They all jumped up at the noise, and Link pulled the still-stunned Kaz down behind their rock. He peaked over the edge of it a moment later, and Kaz hesitantly did the same.

Two of the three monsters had gotten up and went to investiage the blue orb. Just as one lifted up it's foot to kick it, Link held up his slate and set the bomb off. It's explosion knocked the two bokoblins back and exploded the fire barrels, setting all three monsters on fire.

He looked at Kaz to see her reaction, and saw that she looked impressed. She gave him a once over that made him shift in his spot, and said, "You're pretty handy to have around."

She crawled over the rock and went to investigate the camp, and he smiled after her. Just wait till he showed her the cyronis.

.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any ideas, plot, or character to any Legend of Zelda games**

**A thanks to Lleu for pointing out that my formatting got jacked, so I resubmmited this chapter, but correctly this time.**

**A/N: in case any of you were wondering, this is something I just decided to do. I'm just gonna roll with it and write it as I go because this is something I wanna do for fun. That being said, I don't mind hearing back from you guys. I like to know what you think.**

**-blockthewriter**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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**Updated 4/14/20**

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Kaz climbed to the top of one of the mini watch towers and opened the skull chest that was now glowing a dull yellow apposed to it's previous purple. Link waited at the bottom of the ladder and heard her make a pleased noise.

"It's a sheild," she said, holding it down for him to grab. She slid down the ladder as he examined the front of it. He'd had a shield like that on the Great Plateau. "I think Hyrule soldiers used to use them. Least that's what this one guy told me."

He nodded and made to hand it back to her. She shoved it back towards him. "You keep it. I've already got a sheild and that'll hold up better than your pot lid." She gestured to the old piece of wood on his back and he figured she might have a point.

"And besides," she added. "You did all of the work. You deserve it."

He dropped the pot lid on the ground next to him and put the new shield on his back as she went to the edge of the trees and peered through them.

"That smoke we saw earlier," she said, "it was just a traveler's fire. They're gone now." Turning back around, she looked at the river.

Link spotted another monster camp further along on the other side of the water. Or, he at least saw a scout standing on a rock and assumed there would be more near by.

"We should cross here," he said. "There's another camp up by the tower."

"And if we cross now, we can sneak up on them," she agreed. But he saw her cast a look at the water and pick at the hem of her tunic. "I don't want to get wet."

"You won't have to," Link told her, trying not to be smug, marching over to the shore.

"I don't see a bridge," she said, following him. Inwardly, he grinned. "Or rocks to cross over on."

He pulled out his Sheikah Slate and her mouth formed a small 'o'.

"Can that thing summon bridges, too?"

"No."

"Oh."

She watched as he fiddled around with the slate before aiming it just in front of them in the water. He clicked something, and then she heard a distinct cracking sound.

A fluorescent, square, blue pillar of ice rose up from the water, and Kaz's jaw dropped.

"Holy Hylia," she said, taking a step forward and reaching out to poke it. It wasn't cold. "What else can that slate do?"

"Bombs," he started, "ice, magnesis, and stasis."

"What's stasis?" She asked curiously.

"I can basically freeze certain objects in time."

She grinned. "That's crazy." Then, she turned to the ice. "So we can climb on this stuff?"

He nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him, and she went to climb up it without an affirmative. He climbed up after her, and then made another pillar rise up a few feet away, more towards the middle of the river. He jumped over to it first, then made room for Kaz to jump.

He was able to summon one last pillar before they got jump to dry land, and Kaz laughed as she looked back at the pillars. "So what now? Do they melt?"

He shrugged.

She shrugged, too, giving the ice an impressed look, and then made her way to a large tree that was close to the rock where the bokoblin was. She peered around one side of the tree, and then the other, before turning to him.

"There's one watch gaurd and the rest must be in that skull cave thingy," she said, and he looked on the left side of the tree to look at said cave thingy. "Think you can shoot the one on watch from here?"

He nodded and got out his bow. This time, he hit it on the first try. They snuck out from behind the tree and up towards the rock the bokoblin had been on.

"See that lantern in it's eye? Try shooting it down. If we're lucky they've got fire barrels and they'll explode. If not, we can hope it lands on at least one of them."

He aimed carefully and managed to hit the lantern, but instead of falling it just swung around on it's rope. They heard the noises of the monsters inside perking up, obviously having noticed the light's bizarre behaviour. He aimed again, this time for the rope it was tied to, before they could come out and investigate.

The explosion rocked the ground, and they could see flames come out of every opening to the skull. There must have been a lot of barrels.

They jumped up off of the rock and saw that a single bokoblin had survived, and was coming outside of the cave to investigate. Kaz took care of that one, swinging her blade out of it's sheath and killing the monster with two quick swipes.

Link looked inside the cave and saw it was mostly empty aside from some monster parts. Remembering what Kaz said about being able to sell them, he picked them up and put them in his bag.

Kaz was still outside, looking up the hill that stood of between them and the tower. "There's more bokoblins." She sounded extremely annoyed.

Looking, he saw a watch tower at the top, and then one sleeping on the ground halfway up the hill.

Without saying much, the two snuck up the hill towards the sneaking one. When they got to it, Kaz picked up it's bat and chucked it as far as she could while Link stabbed it through it's chest.

It let out some kind of strangled noise before disappating into black dust.

A loud noise pierced through the air, and they looked up to see the one at the watch tower blaring it's horn.

"Shit," she hissed, pulling out her sword as two bokoblins came down from the hill's crest. They were both blue, and Link remembered that those ones were harder to kill.

"I got the left one," Kaz said before charging. Link went to the one on the right, but had to dodge left at the last second. The bokoblin on the little tower had a bow. Perfect.

He managed to kill the monster in front of him while dodging arrows before Kaz, and then pulled out his bow to shoot down the watch guard. Once he had done that and helped Kaz smash crates (which held apples and arrows) they both went to the edge of the cliff closest towards the tower.

She looked at the base of the tower which was surrounded by water and a few stone rocks, and then took a step back. "I'll wait here. It'll be easier for you to go up and do whatever without me. And I don't have a paraglider to get down."

He nodded and paraglided the short way to the tower before climbing up. Kaz had taken a spot on the cliff, dangling her feet over the edge, and would wave every time Link reached a balcony and looked down.

When he reached the top, he hesitated before activating it. What if it caused another earthquake like the first one did? But then he decided that he might as well find out, and hovered the Sheikah Slate over the pedestal.

The lights turned blue and he heard the three pillars at the very top move to point upwards. From somewhere down below, he heard Kaz shout excitedly.

The circle behind him at the edge turned blue, giving him another travelling point, and then the stone above the pedestal turned blue, doing the little drippy thing onto the Sheikah Slate that would give him more parts of the map.

After picking his slate back up and checking out the map, he paraglided back down to Kaz, who was standing up now.

"They turn blue, too!" she exclaimed when he was within ear shot. He landed next to her and she pointed to the tower. "That was seriously cool. If we find another tower between here and the stable, I'm coming up with you."

.

They crossed back to the other side of the river (that's where the road was) using the cyronis on the Sheikah Slate, and started on their way through Dueling Peaks. It didn't take long, even on foot, and by the time they emerged from the split summits the sun was low in the sky.

Kaz led Link over a bridge (he saw a shrine nearby) and to a building, where the top was shaped like a horse. A stable, she explained after seeing his confusion. The giant horse head was so people could spot it from far away.

As they got closer, Link spotted more people, including a man with a giant weird-shaped backpack. As they walked up to the one closest to them, Link saw that Kaz didn't hesitate to talk to them, and reminded himself to ask her more about the Yiga Clan later. Clearly she knew how to tell the difference between friend and foe.

They rolled to a stop in front of a man with black hair who seemed deep in thought. After a moment, he perked up and said, "Oh, sorry! I didn't notice you, I was a bit lost in thought there."

"It's no problem," Kaz said, making to step around him.

"I've been doing rigorous research day and night," he started, and she sighed, stepping back next to Link, "to figure out the mystery of that blood moon."

"Blood moon?" Link asked. The man in front of them have some sort of strangled gasp, and even Kaz gave him a weird look. He shrugged at her.

"You don't know it?" the man asked. He sounded as offended as someone who was speaking to the murderer of his dog. "That's inexcusable. Listen up and I'll tell you about it.

"For 100 years now, ever so often when the clock strikes midnight," he said, "the sky turns red and a full moon rises... At that moment, monsters that had been previously defeated will come back to life. And that's what's known as the blood moon."

Kaz nodded, and Link opened his mouth to thank the man for explaining, but he apparently wasn't done yet.

"Why do the monsters return to life?" the man asked dramatically. "Why does it only happen when the sky turns red? No one really has the answers to those questions. It's a mysterious phenomenon."

"Sure is," Kaz said, grabbing Link's sleeve to tug him along. "Thank you for explaining."

"If you learn anything about the blood moon as you travel," the man called after them, "be sure to come back and tell me!"

They went into the building after Kaz pointed out where he could register a horse if he were to have one, and sat down at a table and chairs near the wall.

"What a day," she sighed, slumping in her seat. She ran a hair through her tangled hair, and winced when it got caught.

"Thank you," Link said after a moment. "For letting me come along. And for all the help."

She waved a hand at him dismissively. "You honestly could have made it just fine without me. But I am happy to help. Company's never a bad thing to have."

She smiled at him, and then looked over to a pair of men arguing by the beds who had gotten particularly loud. The man behind the counter sushed the two, and she turned back to Link.

"In the morning I can point you towards Kakariko," she told him. "I'll be heading in the other direction towards Hateno. But you'll be okay by yourself. You're smart and handy with a sword. And you've got that thingy with you."

Link ran his hand over the slate and nodded. "It's called a Sheikah Slate," he told her. She nodded.

"I figured it had something to do with the Sheikah," she said. "That eye symbol on the back? It's used to represent the Sheikah tribe. The village you're going to is actually where a bunch of them live. I've been there before, they're nice people."

Link considered asking her just how much she traveled. Obviously she'd been around a lot, but he wondered if she always went alone. She couldn't be older than him. Instead he asked why she was going to Hateno.

She shrugged. "I've been there a million times, basically. I made friends with this chick who works the clothing shop, she's nice. I'm going to visit her." Then, as an after thought, "And I'm considering buying a house there. I don't know though. I don't really have a set place to live, and I'm not sure if I want to."

Link nodded. He didn't really have a set place to live, either. In fact, he hadn't even thought about that. Where would he go after he finished...whatever it was he had to all do. Where did he live before? The castle? King Rhoam had said he was a knight for the princess. Did he live in the castle then? Or somewhere nearby?

"What about you?" she asked him. "Why Kakariko?"

He shrugged. "I'm...also visiting someone. Impa."

"Isn't she the old lady that I've never seen leave her house?" Kaz asked curiously. Link only blinked at her and she shrugged. "I think I've only seen her once when my friend Paya showed me an heirloom. The lady told me to not touch it."

For as little as he'd known her, he wasn't surprised to know that she tried to touch something she wasn't supposed to.

As the two men got a bit rowdy again, and Link glanced in their direction, he perked in his chair.

"The Yiga Clan," he said, drawing in Kaz's wandering attention. "How do I know who's in and who's not?"

She seemed to think about it before tilting her head from side to side. "It's hard to tell," she said after a second. "Most of the time you just have to hope for the best. The ones I've stumbled upon never seem to be actually walking. They're always standing somewhere near the road."

The man with the huge backpack walked in, and it seemed to remind her of something else. "I've also never met one that had any extra luggage or anything. They usually just have a small backpack. Oh! And when they talk to you, they'll either seem overly enthusiastic or extremely violent straight off the bat."

Link furrowed his eyebrows.

"Also remember that unless someone needs help, lots of travelers won't openly call out to you," she added. "I've never had someone call out to me on the road that wasn't a Yiga Clan member. They look like regular people, but when they kick it into high gear and go for your head they transform into some kind of outfit and teleport away."

That reminded Link of her little disappearing act with the rock, and he debated asking her.

But Kaz yawned then, and looked towards the archway that led outside. "I think I'm going to go to bed, now."

Looks like it would have to wait. /It's not my business anyway/, he thought.

She stood up, and Link did, too. "I'm going to go to that shrine," he said, pointing outside. She nodded.

"Figured as much. In the morning, if I'm not up before you don't hesitate to wake me," she instructed before heading over to the man at the desk.

Link watched as she paid him and he directed her to a bed at the far end of the room, and then went outside.

He hoped the shrine wouldn't take too long, because he was tired, too.

.

After being done with the shrine, he retreated back to the stable and realized something crucial.

He had no rupees.

Obviously that was required, he had seen Kaz pay. Mulling for a bit on whether he should just go sit out by the fire until morning or wake Kaz up and ask if she could help him out (although he really didn't want to do that, for multiple reasons), he went to stand next to the guy with the large backpack.

The man was sitting on the floor, using his pack as something to lean on, and was hardly asleep. After observing the little collapsible stand he had flattened to his chest, and how every once in a while he'd mutter something about bugs, constumers, and buying things, Link decided to talk to him.

He figured that the guy was some sort of vendor. Recalling Kaz's words on making a few rupees from monster parts, he hoped that this guy was looking for some, and that he would rack up enough rupees for a bed.

"Hey!" the man greeted without promoting. "I don't believe I've made your acquaintance!"

He pulled down his little shelf as Link shook his head.

"The name's Beedle, but you can call me-" he paused abruptly for a second before finishing sheepishly, "Actually, let's just stick with Beedle. But even if you forget my face, you can remember me by my beetle-shaped backpack!"

He shifted a bit, gesturing to his backpack, like it wasn't the most noticeable feature about him. "Despite these dangerous times, you'll fine me travelling all over Hyrule to fulfill your shopping needs.

"I stock many special bugs and must-have items for travelers, and I always charge a fair price." Then, he added, "Or my name's not Beedle!"

Unsure as how that had to do with anything at all, Link asked him if he bought items from others.

"Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed. "I buy all sorts of things, if you're in need of rupees. Gemstones in particular fetch a high price! So how can I help you?"

Well, Link didn't know about any gemstones, but he did sell the guy all the monster parts he had. Individually, he found that they didn't amount to much, but when he sold them altogether the rupees added up quite quickly. In the end, Link walked up to the front desk with 140 rupees and zero monster parts.

"Welcome!" the man at the front desk said as he walked up. "I'm Tasseren. Will you be staying with us?"

At Link's nod, he said, "A regular bed will cost you 20 rupees. A soft bed is 40."

"What's the soft bed?"

"The soft bed is a special bed we're proud to offer here at the table," Tasseren said, gesturing to a few beds on one side of the room. "It costs more than the regular bed, but you'll wake up more energized. Which will it be?"

"Uh," Link looked over at the beds and debated it for a second before shrugging. "A soft bed, why not."

"Wonderful!"

He gave the man his rupees, told him he would like to be woken up in the morning, and then hit the hay.

.

He woke up in the morning and true to Tasseren's word, felt wide awake and ready for the day. He definitely felt better than he had waking up in that chamber.

Looking around and seeing Kaz wasn't in any of the beds, he thanked Tasseren and ventured outside, spotting her talking to Beedle near the fire. He waited long enough for them to exchange monster parts for rupees, and took Beedle's place at her side as the merchant waltz off.

"Good morning," she said upon seeing him.

"Good morning," he replied, giving her a nod.

She stiffled a yawn with her hand, before saying, "So, are you heading out now?"

He looked around for a second, then up to the sky where the sun was still on the rise, and nodded.

"Alright, then," she said, walking off and gesturing for him to follow. They stopped when they reached the path, and she pointed to the opposite direction of the way they'd came.

"See that fork in the path? With the signs?The left path is your road to Kakariko. I don't think there's any other paths to turn on, so it should be a straight shot, relatively speaking," she explained. "You should reach the town by noon, if you're fast."

"Good to know," he nodded, eyeing the trail. Then he turned to her and asked, "How far's Hateno from here?"

She shrugged. "Two days, if I'm moving really slow," she said with a wry grin. "But I usually don't, so a day, hopefully. It's a bigger distance than here to Kakariko."

He nodded, wondering if he would head there next after talking to this Impa lady. Maybe he would see Kaz there, or meet here on her way back.

"This is goodbye, then," Kaz said after a moment, sticking a hand out towards him. "I'm gonna hang around for a bit and then head out, too."

He grabbed her hand and shook it, "Thanks, again. It was a big help."

"No problem," she smiled brightly, starting to take steps backwards towards the stable. "Like I said, it's better to have company. Maybe we'll meet again. Until then, don't get too lonely!"

She spun on her heel, turning her back to him and throwing her hand up as she did. He smiled after her, watching as she kicked a small rock further down the path, and then turned to his own.

He did hope they would see each other again. She was good company. But until then, he would follow this road to Impa, towards his supposed destiny.

Maybe he could get some answers. Real answers. Maybe Impa could help him get his memories back, somehow. Maybe then he would feel better about this whole hero thing.

But then again, maybe not.

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**Disclaimer: I do not own the ideas, plot, or characters of Legend of Zelda**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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**Updated: 4/19/20**

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Link reached what his map dubbed as Kakariko Bridge in no time. He checked the Sheikah Slate a bit after leaving the stable, because he had miraculously forgot up until then that he had a map of the area. The map even had a waypoint _for_ Kakariko. Having Kaz give him directions was a bit pointless, now, but he didn't mind.

He had alternated between running and walking on the path, which was probably why he got to the bridge so soon. It was even older than Proxim Bridge had been.

There were a plethora of vines and moss _everywhere_ on the bridge. What had once been pillars were now broken, jagged pieces of stone jutting from the sides of the bridge upwards. Large portions were missing from the sides of it, as well. And to tie it all in and give it that classic 'this bridge is very old and probably shouldn't be used' look, was a large, daunting crack straight down the middle of the it.

Despite all that, though, the bridge was very sturdy.

Past the bridge, the trail ran upwards, along the edge of a cliff that dropped off to water. Link didn't get far on it until he saw...whatever it was.

At first glance, he thought it was just some _super_ weird tree, except shorter and a bit fatter. But as he got closer, he realized that it was _definitely_ not a tree. Maybe.

It was about double his size in height and was striped in two different pale green colors. The top of it's...head (could he call it that?) quite literally branched off two different ways and sported tree-top-looking bushes at the end. It had two similarly striped eyebrows (maybe) that were shaped like a ridiculously large moustache, and right below that was a leaf. He figured the leaf was a mask, because part of him didn't want to consider it being it's actual face. It had stubs that looked to serve as arms and legs, and to top it all off, had a satchel strung across its torso.

Link stopped in front of it and nearly jumped out of his skin when it talked.

"Shalaka?!"

What kind of word was that?

"You!" it exclaimed, leaning its huge frame forward. "You can see me?!"

"I can see you," he said hesitantly.

"Shala-zah! Shala-zah!" it sang waving it's stubby arms around. "It's been 100 years since anyone has been able to see me!"

Briefly, Link wondered if he had met this thing in his past life (could he call it his past life? Or should he refer to it as 'before his nap'?). As much as he figured he would remember meeting a character like this, it seemed even the weirdest things were wiped with his memories.

"I'm Hestu," it said, "and I need your help!"

Oh, boy.

"Those mosters over there stole my beloved maracas!" Hestu turned towards the steadily rising path and pointed one stub towards the large rocks. "I think they're still there on the other side of those rocks. I can't use my powers without them. So please! _Please_ get my maracas back from them!"

Up the hill and three bokoblins later, Link pulled red maracas out of a skull chest. He returned to Hestu and held the maracas to him without a word. Hestu was overjoyed.

"SHALA-KALA! Those are-those are my maracas!" it waved it's arms around again. "Please giiiiive them to meeeeeee!"

Link handed them over and Hestu took them (how it managed to hold them without hands, he did not know), giving them a big shake.

Oddly enough, they made no noise.

"But wait!" Hestu said as if Link hadn't noticed it yet. "There's something wrong with my maracas! The Korok seeds inside are gone! How am I supposed to dance now?"

It leaned forward dejectedly and Link frowned. Korok seeds? Could he find those from some plant?

"If I had just one Korok seed," Hestu moaned, "I could sing, dance, and use my powers to help you. You see, I have the power of inventory expansion!"

He decided then and there that he would find some Korok seeds, because inventory expansion sounded _pretty_ handy.

"So let me know if you find some Korok seeds!"

"Will do," Link told the Not-Tree. He waited a moment to see if Hestu would say anything else, but it just shook it's seedless maracas, so Link moved on.

.

Further on, Link found out just how to get Korok seeds.

He was in a gorge and was walking through it when he saw some weird looking blocks sticking out from the side of one of the steep rock walls.

There were four blocks making a square, and then below it and to the left, three blocks that almost made a square. Obviously, one was missing. He spotted it on the ground, a few feet away from the ones in the wall.

He stared at it for a moment, wondering just how he was going to get the lone block up there (obviously it was meant to be there), before he pulled out his Sheikah Slate.

Unlike the other blocks, the one on the ground was shiny and metal. He used the magnesis rune on the slate to lift the block up and put it in it's place.

It fit crookedly, but as soon as Link put his slate down, the block spun in the air and lost it's metallic sheen. It fit itself snuggly with the rest of the blocks, and a small cloud of smoke and leaves popped out of the air.

In it's place was some small creature that had a leaf on it's face similar to Hestu's.

"Yahaha! You found me!" it exclaimed, looking down at him. It paused. "Huh? You're not Hestu! But you can...see me?"

A bit stunned, Link nodded.

"I didn't know your kind could see the children of the forest!"

Children of the forest?

"Well, if you run into Hestu, please return this to him." It tossed him down a shiny gold seed. "Oh, and my friends are hiding in lots of different places too! Don't be shy about poking your nose into suspicious places!"

And that was that, apparently.

Link debated turning around right then and giving the seed to Hestu, but then decided against it. He would catch the Not-Tree (was Hestu also a 'child of the forest'?) on his way back from Kakariko.

.

Kakariko Village was a neat little place. He entered from a ravine that opened up into the town and the atmosphere seemed a lot calmer than just out in the wild.

The path he was on went to the right and would lead him further into the village. Not even a few yards away was a fire, and there was an older lady crouched next to it, bent over her ankle.

As he got closer he heard her muttering quite obsenities under her breath.

She looked up when she heard his footsteps and said, "Traveler! I'm sorry, but I seem to have twisted my ankle..."

She said something to herself, and then began to try and lift herself off the ground despite her foot. Link was quick to step up beside her and help her up, and she gave him a kind smile.

"Why, thank you. I'm sorry you had to see me like that," she said. "You can call me Nanna."

He opened his mouth to tell Nanna that she had nothing to be sorry for, but her attention was already caught on to his Sheikah Slate.

"Say, Traveler. Where did you get that...object hanging from your waist?" From her tone he gathered that she knew exactly what it was. He remembered what Kaz said about it maybe having something to do with the Sheikah Tribe, and that Kakariko Village was where they were located.

"Well, you see," he said, and then told the old lady everything. She listened attentively, nodding and making thoughtful noises every so often.

"Yes, I see," she said once he was finished. She smiled, and there was a twinkle in her eye. "That Sheikah Slate is a symbol. It means you are the hero of legend. Though there are few who know of such legend anymore..."

Hero. Link was a bit grateful that apparently not _everyone_ knew of the story anymore. Maybe it was selfish of him to think so, but it almost took a bit more pressure off of him. It meant not _everyone_ was expecting something of him. To some people, he wasn't a hero. He was just Link.

"But we Sheikah have been waiting for you for a very long time," Nanna said. Apparently, the habitants of Kakariko Village were not some of those people. "Please, before all else, I must insist that you meet with our leader, Lady Impa."

She pointed him off towards a huge house in front of some waterfalls (Lantern Falls, she called them). After a few parting words, Link was off. He debated going for that shrine he saw up on the hill, but then remembered that Nanna had asked him to go to Impa immediately.

Deciding he could hit the shrine later, he made he way through the town. Small children ran past him without sparing him so much as a glance, which he prefered over the prying eyes of the adults trailing after him as he walked by.

The guards in front of Lady Impa's place were even worse. They stared him down from the moment he entered their eyesight, as if hoping their glares alone would have him running back into the mountain range.

"You there!" One of them exclaimed as he got close enough. "Who are you? How dare you trespass upon Lady Impa's abode! Hm?"

_Well_, Link wanted to say. _The spirit of the dead king told me to come here so I could be sent on my way to save the world, or something. But what _really_ convinced me was Old Lady Nanna up on the hill._

Instead he just kinda stared at the two.

"Is that...a _Sheikah Slate?_" The man seemed to backtrack from his initial attitude, switching to confusion instead. "But that would mean you are... No, it's not possible. Can it be?"

_It very much can be_, Link wanted to say.

"Please forgive us for behaving so rudely," the second guard spoke up. "Of course we have heard the legends from Lady Impa herself. Please, friend, go ahead and step inside."

They both stepped aside so Link could go on up, and he decided that being a hero definitely had it's benefits. It came with some respect.

He hurried up the stairs, but stopped short at the top of the porch. There was a girl there, around his age, bent down on her hands and knees scrubbing at the wood beneath them. She looked up at his arrival and then jumped to her feet.

"A man?!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in front of her face. He took a step back, a bit alarmed at her reaction. She peeked at him through her fingers. "Huh? Is that...?"

He followed her eyes to his Sheikah Slate as she momentarily lowered her hands, and inwardly sighed. Was _that_ gonna be his defining feature from now on?

"It's...a Sheikah Slate!" she said, covering her face again. "Could you be the hero my grandmother told me about? What was his name?"

Link knew she was talking about him, but didn't step in to give her his name. Her nervous attitude towards men and slightly-awed attitude towards him being the 'hero of legend' didn't give him much motivation to confirm her suspicion.

"Li..." she muttered. "Lin...uh, oh, it's not that I forgot...I'm just bad with speaking. As for me, my name is Pa...Paa...Pay...oh! My name is Paya."

And now, he felt a little bad. She could hardly say her own name. This must have been the girl that Kaz mentioned back during their conversation at the stable.

"Phew, I got it out," she said, uncovering her face. "I know I should be able to say that easily, seeing as how it's my own name after all. I'm so..."

She struggled a bit, opening her mouth repeatedly for a few seconds, before furrowing her eyes brows and saying, "Sorry." She sighed. "Anyway, my grandmother's been awaiting your return ever since I was little. Plea...please hurry inside."

She covered her face again, and he sighed and moved to the doors.

For Lady Impa's part, she neither flinched or even looked up as he walked in to the room unannouced. In fact, she knew exactly who he was without having to look. Or...he assumed so, judging by her first statement.

"So," she said, her voice rickety and aged. The doors swung shut behind him. "You're finally awake."

She raised her head and looked at him from underneath the hat on her head, and patted her knee. "It has been quite a long time, Link. I am much older now, but...you remember me, don't you?"

He didn't move from the doorway.

Considering how the rest of the town acted upon his arrival, he really had expected this Impa lady to be a bit demanding of him and immediately question him about where he had been and send him off to save Hyrule.

Instead of doing any of that, she smiled at him with fondness and spoke slowly and kindly (if a bit mischievously). It dawned on him that she was the first person he had met (King Rhoam aside) that knew him 100 years ago.

He had met her before, talked and interacted with her. She knew things about him that _he_ didn't even know. It was a bit daunting, he decided.

"What's the matter?" she asked him, furrowing her eyebrows. "You are looking at me as though I am a stranger to you. Those eyes...they lack the light of familiarity.

"It is I, courageous one," she said. "Impa. Surely you must at least remember the name Impa?"

He felt bad now. He wished he remembered her. Clearly she expected _that_ of him.

"I see," she said after a moment, leaning forward. "So you have lost your memory."

He nodded, and she sat back again.

"Dearest Link...please come a bit closer." He walked forward until he was a few feet away from the platform and three stacked pillows she sat on.

"A hundered years ago," she started, "the Kingdom of Hyrule was destroyed. After you fell, Princess Zelda's final wish was to place you in a sacred slumber. And then, all alone...alone she went to face Ganon. Before Princess Zelda went to nobly meet her fate...she entrusted me with some words she wished to say to you.

"I have been waiting 100 years to deliver the princess's message," she explained to him. "However! These words, which the princess risked her life to leave you...well, if you are to hear them...you must be prepared to risk _your_ life as well. But I am afraid that burden maybe be too much to bear while you're still without your memories."

She had a point, he figured. From the moment he woke up Link felt like it was all a story. That the person he had been 100 years ago just...wasn't him. It was all just someone told him. It was one thing to actually _know_ what he was than to be told.

None of it was personal. All of this talk of the princess, and Link didn't know who she was. Sure, he knewthat he knew her, protected her, but it was only because someone told him so. Princess Zelda was nothing more than a name.

And being _the hero_ was nothing more than a title. He didn't feel like a hero. He felt like he hardly knew what was going on (which was true), and being told you had to save the world despite not even _knowing_ the world was a lot of weight to hold.

"I leave the choice to you," Impa told him. "When you feel you are ready to receive the princess's message, return to me."

A choice. If Link really wanted to, he could walk away. Granted, he would have to come back at some point, he knew that, but he could _go_.

He knew he couldn't though, not really. Link wasn't sure if he would ever be ready, not without his memories. He couldn't return when he was ready if he would never _be_ ready.

"I just...," he said after a moment, trailing off. Lady Impa waited patiently for him to continue, her wise attitude promoting him to confide in her. "I don't remember anything. I don't remember you, I don't remember Princess Zelda, and I hardly remember hero everyone speaks of...I don't know who that is. I don't know if we're the same person."

It was the most he had said consecutively to anyone he had met since waking up. But Impa was old (no offense to her), clearly well over one hundered if she knew him before his nap. She was wise beyond her years, with an infinite amount of knowledge that she looked ready to pass on to him in an instant. Right now, if anyone was going to help him out, or make him feel better about this whole entire situation, he felt it would be her.

"You and the hero are the same person, Link, if you allow them to be," she said, giving him a smile. "It is your destiny to save Hyrule, and I'm afraid that cannot be changed. However, _why_ you save Hyrule is for you to decide. I do not doubt that, some where in you there is a voice insisting you rise to the challenge."

There _was_. As much as Link wanted to leave now, because he would _never_ be ready, he couldn't. He knew it was his destiny, King Rhoam had told him as such and Lady Impa was now. He was the Hero of Legend, even if he didn't want to be.

Lots of people were depending on him, that he knew. Lady Impa, the entirety of Kakariko Village, Princess Zelda, and even people who didn't _know_ they were. Kaz was depending on him, and she didn't even know.

There were only two true options. Leave now, come back later, and leave the people of Hyrule to suffer until he deemed himself ready; or listen to Princess Zelda's message now and help everyone at a better life.

And that voice Lady Impa was talking about, it was telling him that this wasn't even a decision he should be considering. He knew what he had to do. It wouldn't be fair to make everyone else wait for him to man up do what he would have to do anyway. He had to save people. He had to.

"You're right," he admitted, bobbing his head up and down. "I have to do this."

"Why?" she asked slyly. "You've just said you remember nothing of your past. You have no recollection of those dear to you. This isn't personal for you, without your memories. Why do it?"

Okay, did she want him to do it, or not? Of course, he knew she did, but she had also just pointed out that he had a right not to.

It wasn't personal. So why?

"It might not be personal for me..." he started, shifting his feet, "But it _is_ personal for everyone else. It's personal for everyone who lost family to Ganon. It's personal to Princess Zelda, and it's personal to you."

Impa inclinded her head, raising her eyebrows and prompting him to continue.

"I just think it would be exeedingly selfish for the one person who can supposedly fix things _not_ fix things for everyone, just because they happen to be the one person who doesn't have direct ties to all that was lost," he finished. Because while he past self might have had direct ties, _he_ certainly didn't. At least, not any he remembered.

Lady Impa considered him for a moment, before nodding to herself.

"You are anything but selfish, Link," she told him. "Most, if put in your position, would walk away. They would hide in the face of danger. You are as selfless as they come, willing to bear this burden for those you don't know."

"I would like to hear Princess Zelda's message," Link decided. "If I'm not ready now, I won't ever be."

She smiled, and Link had the feeling that she knew he would take on Princess Zelda's words the moment he walked in.

"Not a memory to your name, yet you are as intent as ever to charge forward with only courage and justice on your side," she mused. "You have not changed a bit, even if you don't know it. One a hero, always a hero."

Link thought that when she said it like that, it made him seem a lot more brave than he felt he was.

"Very well," Impa said with a nod. "Since you have lost your memory, I will recount for you all that has happened..."

.

**Disclaimer: I do not own the ideas, plot, or, character of Legend of Zelda**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

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**Updated 4/20/20**

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Free the four Divine Beasts.

Those were Princess Zelda's words that she had passed on to Impa, who had in turn passed them on to Link.

He left her house feeling way in over his head, giving Paya a distracted wave goodbye as he descended the wooden steps back to the ground. There was a small sitting area to the right of the house that he took advantage of, and sat down there to observe his map.

As Impa had said, there were five new markers, and four showed him where the Divine Beasts were at. Because obviously it wasn't going to be too easy, each marker was postioned in a corner of the map, spread far apart in great distances that Link was going to have to cover.

Because he had only been to two towers thus far, every marker was positioned in an empty blue space that would be replaced with map as he went on.

He turned his attention to the fifth marker, which was closer than any of the others but still in an unmapped area, and remembered what Impa had told him.

He could get his memories back.

For the most part. At least, that's what he assumed. She had vaguely told him that the Sheikah Slate wasn't complete and that it was his memories, so he connected the dots on his own and wondered why Impa hadn't just led with that.

The idea of remembering something, anything at all, pulled at him like string and he decided that was the first thing he was going to do. The four Divine Beasts could wait just a little bit longer.

She had said that this research lab was somewhere in Hateno Village, the place he remembered Kaz was heading. Maybe he would run in to her on the way or see her at the town.

Looking around, Link put the slate away and took in the village. Part of him wanted to stick around and explore the place. It looked nice, and so did the people now that they weren't staring at him from a distance. He decided he wouldn't, though, because he really wanted to go fix his memories. It was in his best interests to go and do the shrine he spied up on the hill and then leave for Hateno Village as soon as he could.

Walking across the courtyard in front of Lady Impa's house, he was called over by a man painting violently on a canvas.

He paused as Link came over, holding mulitple brushes between his fingers that were covered in a variety of colors.

"Sorry to bother you, but are you a fellow traveler?" the man asked him.

Link nodded after a moment. He was well on his way to becoming a traveler, because after he freed all of those Divine Beasts scattered across Hyrule it would probably be stupid to consider himself otherwise.

"As for me, I just _love _art," the man continued. "My name is Pikango, and I'm traveling the world in search of beautiful landscapes to paint. Just between you and me, I hear there's a Great Fairy Fountain somewhere near this village. I hear it's breathtakingly beautiful."

A Great Fairy Fountain? That sounded interesting. Link knew fairies existed, that seemed common knowledge next to horses and monsters, but Great Fairies?

"Aesthetic aside," Pikango continued, "they also say the place can bestow some kind of mysterious power on people. However, since I'm an outsider, I can't get anyone to tell me any more details than that. These villages never leave the safety of their village, so travelers like me are treated with suspicion."

Considering how they all gawked at Link when he first entered the village, he could find that claim understandable. The only reason he figured they weren't staring him down now was because he was granted access up to Lady Impa's. If someone was allowed to visit the town's leader, that would probably make them seem trustworthy to the villagers.

"But I won't give up! Oh, and if I manage to find out anything, I'll be sure to let you know," he said, giving Link a firm nod. Then he turned back and started assaulting the canvas again.

Link watched him for another moment before moving on.

Going to the shrine proved to be vital. Link walked into it with an old sword and sheild, and came out with some Sheikah weapons and the knowledge of how to fight. It nearly surprised him how naturally it all came to him, but then he remebered that he was a Knight before his nap, so it made some sense.

By the time he left Kakariko, it was late in the evening. He followed the same path he came, and found Hestu sitting in the same spot it had been earlier, shaking the noiseless maracas in a rythym only it could hear.

Link walked up to it (he still wasn't quite sure what it was) and Hestu started talking right away.

"The children of the forest must have taken the Korok seeds from my beloved maracas," Hestu said. "I never thought I'd be the targets of one of their pranks. Shoko..."

It started to say something else, but suddenly stopped, and the long nose poking out of it's leaf began to twitch. "But wait...," Hestu sniffed the air and leaned towards Link with apprehension. "Do you have a Korok seed?"

He nodded, and Hestu raised his maracas in the air. "You do! You got a Korok seed from one of the forest children! If you'll give me just _one _Korok seed, I'll make your inventory bigger in return!"

"Yes, please!" Link said enthusiastically, pulling the golden seed from his pouch.

"Shalaka! So which stash do you want more slots in?"

"The weapons stash," he said easily.

"Oh, yeah!" Hestu exclaimed.

The maracas began to glow red, and when it shook them they produced _actual _music. Hestu danced along to the song, shaking the maracas and spinning around until it stopped in front of Link and raised the maracas high.

They exploded with pink and green confetti, and that was that, apparently.

"Your weapon stash has been expanded," Hestu said. "Shalaka! I'll be here for a little while, so if you find more Korok seeds, bring them to me!"

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Link arrived at the Dueling Peaks stable a little past dark, traded off whatever monster parts he had for rupees with Beedle (who looked like he was just getting to the stable again himself), and then bought a regular bed.

In the morning, he asked one of the staff how he could get to Hateno Village, and they gave him directions to head on to Fort Hateno, and then just keep following the path till he reached the village.

It was easy enough. He reached Fort Hateno in a few short hours, and was a bit unsettled at the sight of all the old gaurdians that scattered the field in front of (and the ones that looked like they were scaling) the stone walls. He saw a cabin there, but didn't investigate it and carried on his way.

He went a bit out of his way to activate the tower he saw jutting out of the ground, killing any monsters with his new skills along the way, and scaling the tower while watching out for the huge thorns that crawled up the sides of it. As inconvenient as that was, it was worth it for the view.

Link could see what had to be Hateno in the distance. It wasn't far and he could probably cover a great distance on the paraglider. The town, much like Kakariko, was built on a series of hills, but lacked the mountain range. Comparing his map and what he saw of the village, he determined that the lab was at the highest point of the village. The marker on his slate was located exactly there, and from the tower he could see the outline of a building.

He paraglided most of the way there, and upon entering the village, was almost immediately approached by a little kid.

"Hey, mister!" the small boy exclaimed, adjusting the large glasses on his face.

"What is it, buddy?" Link asked, kneeling down so he was on the kid's level. He was a bit surprised he outright approached him, considering how the kids in Kakariko had opted to ignoring his very presence (that or they genuinely didn't notice him).

"You'll never guess what I found! Wanna see?"

Link hesitated for only a second. Why not?

"Sure I do," he told the little boy.

"Kay, follow me!"

The kid turned around and dashed off, and Link followed. He led him up the path a little bit, past an adult who waved at the both of them, and then branched off to the right. For a second he thought the boy was leading him to some square shaped buildings that looked to be made out of colored wood (compared to the tan stone of the other houses), but then the kid separated from the worn path to one that didn't look used as much.

They went through two hills and followed the path until the kid stopped in front of a dark stone statue. Link immediately became concerned.

The statue itself was about as tall as him, and had stone wings spread out above it. They were attached to what looked like an old lady hunched over on the ground, who had horns sticking out of her forehead.

As soon as Link stepped in front of it, the temperature seemed to drop. It didn't seem the kid noticed, though, as he still stood next to Link, looking between him and the statue like he was waiting for a reaction.

A dark purple fog began to form around the statue's base, and pale light shined upwards from it casting shadows across it's face.

Link heard an old wispy voice reach his ear, coming and going with the breeze that seemed to have picked up a bit. It reminded him of the great stone statue in the Temple of Time that spoke to him, but this one was a lot more eerie. It sounded like there were multiple voices talking to him at once.

"_Ah..so there are some who still pay me homage?_"

"You can talk?!" Link exclaimed, glancing to the kid who still stood idly by. The boy gave Link a weird look as soon as he asked the statue the question.

"_You don't say... You can hear my voice?_"

"Uh, yes?"

"_Now, that is a surprise._"

The kid's weird look made a lot more sense. Obviously this statue didn't normally talk to people.

"_What were you praying for? Long life? Wealth, like so many of your kind?_"

None of the above, Link wanted to say.

"_Whichever it was, you came to the right place. A dealer in life and power...That was me, once. Alas, my life-for-money bargains didn't sit well with the Goddess Hylia._"

Life-for-money bargains? What did a statue need with money?

"_She trapped me in this stone statue long, long ago._"

That raised up some red flags. Link opened his mouth, ready to tell the kid to go back to the village. The statue clearly wasn't safe, and he wondered if the villagers even knew it was here.

"_The villagers here call me the Horned Statue and don't even bother to wipe away the bird droppings._"

Okay, so they did know it was here. It was obvious that they didn't trust it though, _and _avoided it. As creepy as it was, Link didn't blame them.

"O_ne would think years upon years of such treatment would have made me mend my ways...one would think wrongly. I have only been bidingmy time for the moment someone who can hear me appears...Someone such as you._"

The hair on the back of Link's neck stood on end, and a chill went up his spine.

"_Now then, shall we strike a bargain?_"

His chest began to tingle like it was about to go numb, but a moment later it stopped as someone grabbed his arm.

Link was pulled away from the statue roughly, and he turned to see Kaz standing next to him.

"Teebo, go back to the village," she told the little kid, glancing between him, Link, and the statue. "You know what your mom said about coming down here."

Teebo glanced between them and the statue suspiciously before asking Link, "Were you talking to that statue?"

He looked to Kaz, who lightly shook her head, and then responded to Teebo saying, "No. I was just pretending."

Teebo's suspicion was wiped away within the second and he smiled that them. "Okay. See you!"

He scampered between them and back up the path they'd come from.

Kaz turned to Link, sparing the statue a glance before pulling Link a few yards away. The purple fog had disappeared, and the temperature went back to normal.

"Did it take anything from you?" she asked him.

He placed a hand to his chest and rubbed it as the tingling went away. "No. I don't think so."

She sighed in relief and nodded. "Good. That thing's not safe. The villagers avoid it like the plague."

"I can see why," he said, glancing back to it. "It's creepy. What does it take?"

Kaz, too, lifted up a hand to rub at her chest. "Some of your life essence." He didn't ask if it had happened to her, even though he had an inkling that it did, and instead gestured up to the path Teebo had retreated to.

"Should we go back?"

"Yeah," she nodded, taking the lead.

He watched her as they went back, trying to read her expression. Aside from what had just happened, she seemed alright for the most part. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't frowning either.

He suddenly wondered if she had ended up buying that house here.

Kaz stopped abruptly as they reached the main road and turned to him, holding out her hand with a grin. "It's nice to see you again, Link."

He shook her hand and agreed. It _was _nice to see her. Despite knowing her for around two days or so, it was good to know that she was a familiar face for the most part.

"What brings you to Hateno?" She asked him. "Did you go talk to that Impa Lady?"

"I did, she told me to come here," he said. He wondered how much he should tell her, and decided to be vague. As friendly as she was, Link wouldn't tell her about his destiny. He hardly knew her. "I'm here to go to the Tech Lab."

"The Tech Lab?" she asked thoughtfully. "A lot of people here are really skeptical about that place. It's all the way up there." She pointed to the highest peak, the one Link had suspected it to be on in the first place.

"How soon do you have to go?" she asked him.

"It's sort of urgent," he admitted, and Kaz frowned a bit.

"That's alright. I'll let you go ahead then," she said, quickly turning it into a smile. "If you want to find me later, I'll either be at the clothing shop, or the Inn."

"Good to know," Link said, giving her a nod. She smiled again and moved on, curls bouncing behind her as she waved at a few adults.

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Kaz would be lying if she said she wasn't surprised to see Link again. _Especially _at the Horned Statue.

That thing gave her, and the entire town, the creeps. No one ever actually told her what was so bad about it, she just got warnings to leave it be. The only one who gave her any hints was a boy named Medda who had befriended her over the course of her visits.

He only told her that it was bad and that it could talk to some people. He'd never actually seen it, and never planned to, but he _did _tell her where she could find it. So she went there. Bad choice, on her part.

Her chest still tingled whenever she thought about it.

So to find Link standing in front of it, with little Teebo of all people, with purple fog hovering around their ankles, definitely surprised her.

Not that she wasn't happy to see him. She had been wondering since she left him at the stables if she'd see him again. The only person she could ever remember meeting more than once along the road, if they didn't live in a town or at a stable, was Beedle. She hadn't really expected to see him any time soon, but was excited nonetheless.

There weren't many travelers out there that were her age, so to meet another one was a welcome change.

Hence why she was a bit disappointed when he said his business at the Lab was important. She figured that as soon as he was done with his business he would be off again, with no time to talk.

And what _was _his business at the Tech Lab anyway? The townspeople never said anything bad about it, but they also really had nothing good to say about it, either. They all just seemed super suspicious about the building on the hill, talking about blue fires and crazy old ladies. There was some rumour about the owner turning into a little kid that Kaz wasn't too keen on believing unless she saw it herself.

She'd gone up there once to check it out and saw the Sheikah symbol on the front door. Maybe he was going to do something with his slate? She remembered it having the same symbol on the back of it. Or maybe it was something to do with those shrines he could open?

The shrines that only someone with the slate could open, who was the supposed Hero of Legend.

Kaz grew up hearing about the tales of legend. Lots of travelers came into the stable and told stories, and although they were scarce to begin with, she heard them even less nowadays than when she was just a kid.

The story was about the Princess of Hyrule and her appointed Knight. Something about how the Princess saved the Knight's life after he sacrificed himself for her, laying him to rest so he would eventually wake up and take Hyrule back from Calamity Ganon. No one knew if it actually happened, where this Knight might have been placed, and what ever happened to the princess. It was like she had disappeared.

Kaz had never been sure if she believed it or not. But now...now she was questioning it. She would never ask him. That would be rude and insensitive, and also extremely awkward if she happened to be wrong. But she figured she would stop by Kakariko someday and ask around. The travelers from the Sheikah Tribe were always the ones that firmly believed that the Knight would return, so if anyone would know it was bound to be them.

Maybe she would go there, next.

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Kaz snapped her attention to the innkeeper, Prima, in front of her. She was sitting at one of the tables near the windows, and the woman had approached her carefully, regarding her with a slightly amused expression.

"Sorry," Kaz apologized for not noticing her straight away. "I kinda zoned out."

"Oh, it's no problem! I was just wondering if you knew how many more night you would be staying? I know you usually don't stay for long."

It was true. While Kaz visited relatively frequently, she never stayed for longer than few days.

"I'm not quite sure," she said honestly. "Probably just a few more days."

"Alright," Prima nodded. She opened her mouth the say more, but the door to the inn swung open at that moment. She gave Kaz an apologetic smile and parting wave, and hurried off to attend to the visitor.

Kaz turned her attention back to the window, and immediately caught sight of Link walking by outside. He was carrying, of all things, a torch lit by a bright blue flame.

She recognized it from the crazy old furnace that sat somewhere on the edge of the village. She'd been to it once when she first visited the village, but hadn't gone back since. As pretty as the blue fire was, watching the flames flicker wasn't a way she intended to pass time, so she never bothered to see it again.

As he continued to walk by, back up towards the Research Lab at the top of the village, Kaz scooted closer to the window to peer after him curiously. What was he doing with the fire?

He was getting odd glances from the villagers that were out and about, but they never spared him a second look and carried on as if it were normal.

Kaz couldn't dismiss it that easily.

She got up and left the Inn, standing at the top of the steps by the door as she watched Link continue on his way. He stopped for a second to light one of the old stone street lanterns before starting up the path again.

She looked back down the way he came and saw that all of the other street lamps so far had been lit, too.

How interesting.

Kaz glanced around once more to make sure no one was really paying any attention to her, before starting up in the direction Link had gone. She walked casually, slower than Link was so he wouldn't look back and see her, and so none of the other villagers would think anything suspicious of her.

This was probably something she definitely shouldn't have been doing, following after a guy she met a few days ago out of sheer curiosity, but by nature she tended to be a curious person, so she figured it could be excused this one time. Maybe. It was still rude.

She would just be careful not to get caught. She would follow him up to the lab, see what he was doing with that flame, and then go back down before he noticed her at all.

One thing that Kaz took pride in was her ability to spy, even though she used it for mostly shifty reasons sometimes, so she had no trouble ducking behind objects whenever Link happened to stop for a second, or glance behind him.

At one point he stopped to talk to Ralera, a woman who always sat at the same damn tree all of the time, and she could practically hear the lady reminiscing about Lurelin Village from where she was in a bush further down the hill.

Lurelin Village was an okay place, but Kaz never found it too interesting and had only been there two or three times.

After a long five minutes, Link politely cut into the lady's spiel before heading on up to the lab again. She waited a minute before following after him, but as soon as she got near Ralera was called out to by the lady.

"Oh, Kaz! You're back in town!" she exclaimed, waving at her from the small bench she sat on. Kaz glanced after Link for a moment, who was too far ahead to hear them, and sighed.

"Hello, Ralera," she greeted, pulling off to the side to speak to the woman for the moment.

"It's wonderful to see you again," Ralera said. "Have you made any recent visits to Lurelin since the last I saw you?"

"I'm afraid not," Kaz said with a wince. "But perhaps sometime, soon."

"Oh, you must! I was just telling that nice young man all about it! He hadn't heard of it at all, just like you when we first met. Teenagers these days." Ralera shook her head ruefully, but still had an easy smile on her face.

"That was Link," Kaz told her. "He's lived on the Great Plateau for most of his life so he wouldn't have heard of most places." She felt a bit bad for telling Ralera that the second it left her mouth. It was like an invasion of privacy, and she wasn't even sure if it was true. She assumed so, considering he said he came from the Great Plateau and hadn't even known what Hateno was, but he never told her he'd only been there, so she could never be too sure

"Link, hm?" Ralera mused. "You know some about him, have you traveled with him? If so, your next destination should be to show him Lurelin Village. He'll love it!"

"Oh, I'm sure he will," she said, starting to walk backwards, away from the lady. "Well, I've got to go. Business up at the ranch."

Ralera bought her lie and bid her farewell, saying something about returning to the village to have dinner with her husband.

Kaz hurried up to catch up with Link. Or, catch up enough to spy on him from a distance. She passed the ranch and went up the path that led to the village, and had to stop short at the sight of Link speaking with a little boy.

The kid was talking loudly about that one rumor of the little girl that was suspected to live at the lab. She wasn't too surprised, apparently one of the little kids had seen this little girl, and all of the children believed it. The adults didn't, of course, so she wasn't surprised to see a little kid spying on the house just to prove the parents wrong.

The kid, who Kaz recognized as Azu, turned and yelled upwards for another kid that lived at the village. Sefaro yelled back from a big tree closer to the house, "No luck! There's nothing here!"

Kaz scoffed in disbelief, smiling incredulously at the boys' determination to prove themselves right. It was good to know that she wasn't the only one who spied to figure things out, even if there was at least an 8 year difference between her and those boys.

Link continued on his way after that, and Kaz waited again for him to get mostly up the hill before following after. Azu didn't say anything to her, only gave her a little wave without looking away from the lab.

It was a miracle Link didn't look back and see her on the rest of the way up. There was no where to really duck and hide at. He lit the lanterns that were there on the rest of the way up, and then lit the large stone furnace that sat just outside of the house.

Almost as soon as the blue flames erupted in the furnace, a little stone circle in front of the front door lit up, much like the stone circle that was on the floor of the shrines.

Kaz watched curiously as Link walked over to the circle and stared down at it, before extinguishing the torch. He went over to the double doors and pushed them both open. Over his shoulder as he walked in, Kaz saw a white haired girl with big glasses standing on a chair.

She dropped down to the grass, heartbeat picking up pace as she hoped that the little girl hadn't seen her. It probably wouldn't do good for someone to tell Link that he'd been followed up to the lab.

After the doors swung close, Kaz waited another minute just for good measure before standing up and heading back down the hill.

She'd been curious enough for one day. She learned what Link was doing with the blue fire, and as much as she wanted to know why, she wasn't about to go window peeping for some answers.

She wasn't that weird.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the ideas, characters, or plot of the Legend of Zelda**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

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**Updates/revisions are now finished. It's back to our regular (and hopefully more often) scheduled programming.**

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"Hey!" Purah exclaimed the moment Link walked through the doors. Her red eyes, the same red as Kaz's, we're flashing with excitement. She flashed him piece signs and struck a few poses on her chair before reaching forward with both hands and patting him on the chest. "Linky, thank you so much! Now then, take a look over there!"

She pointed over to the guidance stone, which was the same as the weird drippy stone things that were on top of all the towers. He was glad to finally have to not call it the weird drippy stone thing. The tip had began to glow a faint blue, and the pedestal beneath it now bore orange lights.

"The guidance stone must be starting to react!" Purah said. "There's nothing mysterious about it—this is pure science!"

Underneath her breath, she whispered like a little kid might whisper to a toy doll, "My sweet little guidance stone. You sure know how to make this old researchers's heart flutter!" Link gave her an odd look, being reminded that she wasn't _really_a little girl. At least, her mind wasn't. It was a hard concept to grasp when she acted the way she did.

"Well then," Purah said, "let's go ahead and restore those Sheikah Slate runes for you! Give me a nice snap! Go on, no time to be shy about it!"

Point and case. This was not a way Link would expect a person that is mentally at _least _100 years old to act.

"Snap?" He said hesitantly, snapping his fingers together. Purah gave him an unimpressed look.

"It could use a little work," she quipped. She picked up her little notebook and jotting something down, muttering about lack of enthusiasm. "Hokay then, Sheikah Slate repair—underway!"

She hurried Link over to stand in front of the pedestal and instructed him to place the Sheikah Slate on it like he normally would. It did it's normal routine of spinning around and flashing lights, and then the stone above began to drip its blue light down onto the Slate.

Link grabbed the Slate from the pedestal and looked it over, moving to go stand by Purah again.

"So?! Is it all fixed now?" She asked him eagerly. He held it out between them so she could see. "Hmm, lessee here...which one is it. Camera, Hyrule Compendium, album...yep, looks good!"

Link quirked his lips and listened as Purah began to ramble on again. "So I know this is sudden, but hear me out. Take a picture of me with the camera! Then I wanna see it!"

Camera? Link had no idea what that was, but figured it was something he'd just happen to forget about from before his 100 year nap.

"It's your newest rune," Purah told him after he just stared at his Slate for a moment.

He held up his slate, switching it to the newest rune and holding it up in front of him. Purah's face appeared on the screen exactly as it was in front of him, and when she bobbed her head to the side the image on the screen did the same. Link pressed a rather obvious button and heard a small _click!_. He saved the photo when it asked and turned the screen around so she could see it.

"Did you get a cute pic of me?" She asked, leaning forward and adjusting her glasses. "Hm? My, who _is _this beautiful, young creature?" She stared at it for a few more moments before Link tucked it away.

"Huh?" She blinked at him. "Oh! That's my cue. Sorry, I kind of lost it there. It wasn't on purpose. It's not just a pretty girl in those images. There's some old landscape photos stored in the album."

Link frowned.

"I knew Princess Zelda had made frequent use of the camera feature, but this—" she stopped abruptly and looked at him as if she hadn't really noticed him before. "Hey, Linky, it dawns on me that you were Princess Zelda's appointed knight which means there's a strong possibility that you accompanied her to all of the places where these pictures were taken."

Link only blinked at her and she sighed heavily. "Oh, right. The 'lost memory' thing could prove troublesome." She leaned forward and slapped her hands against her cheeks. "But don't lose hope! It just means these pictures could be the missing piece to help restore your lost memories!"

"Really?!" Link exclaimed, standing to attention. Is this what Impa had been talking about?

"If my hunch is correct, I suggest you check in with Impa," Purah confirmed. "She knows more about Princess Zelda than even I do! Now, there's just one more thing I need from you! You don't have to worry about this until after you see Impa, but I want you to bring me back some ancient materials!"

"Back here?"

"You can bring them either to me or to Robbie at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab," she told him. "As if my joy weren't enough, if you bring us some ancient materials, we'll give you something good as a reward."

Bidding farewell to Purah and Symin, Link started back down towards the village beneath the setting sun. He figured he would stay the night there and head towards Kakariko the next day.

He hoped that whatever Purah's hunch was, that it was correct. The fact that his memories were so close yet so far had his thoughts running wild. He would check out those pictures when he found the Inn. Maybe seeing them would spark a memory. Hell, even if he just got a vague sense of familiarity he would be happy.

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Link found the Inn quick enough and was greeted by a girl named Prima at the front desk. She asked him if he wanted to go to bed straight away, but he had caught sight of a certain someone sitting by a window and told Prima that he would later.

Kaz wasn't paying any attention to her surrounding in the slightest. She was slumped low in her seat at the table, staring out the window with slight furrowed eyebrows. Link sat down right in front of her, but she didn't notice until he rapped on the table between them.

She jumped slightly, straightening in her seat as she stared at him with a moment of confusion. Then it passed and she grinned at him.

"Staying here for the night?" she asked him. He nodded, glancing over to Prima who was immersed in a book she had behind the desk.

"Yes. I need to head back to Kakariko in the morning, though," he told her. He was surprised when her expression dropped and she frowned at him.

"Already?" She asked. "You're not gonna stick around at all and see the town?"

He shifted in his chair a bit under her stare, and shrugged. "I mean, no. I didn't really think about it."

"Well, think about it," she told him. "I was actually gonna leave for Kakariko the day after tomorrow. If you stick around, not only could I get you a tour of Hateno, but we could go to Kakariko together."

He didn't say anything as he mulled it over, and she waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Just think about it, like I said. You can decide in the morning. Now—" she leaned forward and put her elbows on the table "—I saw you with the blue fire. What's with that?"

"Blue fire?" He was caught off guard by how quickly she changed topics, and wasn't sure what she was talking about at first.

"Yeah, the blue fire, from that ancient furnace?" She said, pointing out the window at one of the street lamps. "I mean, you weren't exactly discreet about it so I figured it would be okay to ask." She shifted in her seat a bit, and he got the vague idea that she was nervous, but then ignored that idea. What was there to be nervous about?

"Oh yeah, I had to light the furnace up at the tech lab," he said easily. "It only takes blue fire." She seemed to lose some tension in her shoulders that he didn't notice was there till it was gone.

"Oh, that's cool," she said. Then, "If you don't mind me asking, what _was _your business at the tech lab? What do they even do up there?"

Well shoot. Link couldn't very well tell her that he'd lost his memories and that Impa told him he needed to go to Purah to have her tell him that if he went back to Impa that she could help him figure it out with the pictures on his Sheikah Slate. That would just raise a _lot _of questions.

"I, uh..."

But he _could _tell her about the new camera rune.

"You know how I can summon bombs and ice with my Sheikah Slate?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah. You said it could do like bombs, cryonis, magnesis, and stasis, right?"

"Right," he nodded. "Those are called runes. I went up to the lab to get a new one. It's a camera."

"A camera? What's that?"

Okay, so a camera wasn't just something he'd forgotten about. It was just something specific to the Sheikah Slate.

"It's like an instant picture," he described it, pulling his Sheikah Slate out. "Here. Smile." Her smile wasn't it's usually crooked self, but was more of a confused and you're-kinda-crazy smile.

Link saved it with a grin and turned the Slate around so she could see it.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed. "That _is _an instant picture! It's like a painting but without the painting! And life like!" Then she leaned in closer to the screen and scrunched up her nose.

"Man, does my hair always look like that?" She asked with disdain, bring her hands up to pat on her curls. Link laughed and put the Slate away.

"That's really cool," she told him with a grin, red eyes shining. "Definitely worth going up to the lab for."

Link nodded, then let his mouth run and said a bit more. "Yeah. And there were some presaved pictures on there that I've got to go show Lady Impa at Kakariko," he said. "It's why I'm going back."

"Presaved pictures?" she asked, and he kinda regretted telling her but then shrugged it off. That wasn't too much detail.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Presaved pictures." He didn't elaborate and she must have got the gist that he wasn't going to, so she changed the subject.

"Interesting," she hummed, looking back to the window. Link nodded, and they sat in silence for a bit, which he found oddly uncomfortable.

But it wasn't the uncomfortable where he wanted to up and leave because it was weird, which was the uncomfortable he felt with most people. It was the uncomfortable where he wanted to say something because the silence was weird and he didn't want to stop the conversation. Which he didn't feel around most people.

Or any people.

Except Kaz, apparently.

"So," he picked up, eyes wondering around the building as he pulled a conversation out of midair. "Did you decided to buy a house here?"

Kaz made a face and shook her head.

"No. Well, I don't know, yet," she said, drawing her finger across the wooden table.

He waited for her to continue because he wanted to know where she was going to live and because it made him think about where he wanted to live. Well, where he wanted to live after he was done traveling to the four corners of Hyrule and saving the Princess and the world and such.

"I've looked at some houses, the newer ones that have just been built," she said, and he figured she meant the colorful, blocky looking ones. "They're nice, really cool, but not really homey and stuff. The only homey-feeling house I know about that's available is this house on the edge of town, and they're in the process of tearing it down."

"Tearing it down?" he asked. "Why?"

She shrugged. "Who knows. I just saw the construction guys up there hacking away and stuff and figure it wasn't an option anymore."

"I'm sorry," he said with a frown.

She shook her head and smiled. "Don't be. It's just a house. And besides, I'm not too sure about living here anyway."

She whirled her finger around in a circle above her, as if the encompass the whole village, and then brought it back down.

"Why not?" He asked. "It seems like a good town."

"Oh, it is, don't get me wrong," she was quick to say. "It's great. Except I've also been thinking about up North near Akkla or something. It's super pretty there."

"Pretty?" Link asked. He recognized the name Akkla from what Purah had told him.

"Yeah, pretty," Kaz said with a laugh, nodding. "There's more colors. The trees aren't just green, they can be orange and yellow and stuff, too. It's close to Death Mountain, which sounds like a terrible place to live close to, but looking at it is super cool and it's not like you're close enough to die from an eruption or something."

The door to the Inn opened and another traveler walked in, giving the two of them a small wave before heading over to talk to Prima.

"Anyway, I don't know," Kaz concluded. "I just think I like it better there than here."

"You said it was up north?" Link asked. "Where all have you traveled to?"

She grinned again, and he found himself grinning back. "Oh, I've been nearly everywhere. Except the Gerudo Desert, that place is insanely hot."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," she nodded. "I've seen some women from down there and they're all super dark and tan. And they all wear these baggy pants for airflow and these tube-top looking things that show off their abs."

Link raised an eyebrow and she added, "Yeah, literally all of them have abs."

"All the women?"

"It's _only _women down there," she told him, smiling at the look on his face. "There's only one settlement out there, unless you count the Bazaar, and it's Gerudo Village, home to the Gerudo people, who are all just women. Males are banned from the town."

"Why?" He asked curiously, wondering what men would have had to do to have the entire gender banned from a single town.

She shrugged. "I don't know. But it's funny."

It was kinda funny and they both laughed about it a second later.

"Where else have you been?"

"Well, I've been up to Rito Village, which is a super cool place so long as you aren't scared of heights," she said, raising her hand like that would convey just how tall their settlement was. Link's lips twitched upwards. "And then I went past that to the Hebra Mountains, which is super cold. I actually had to get this cold resistant outfit at Rito Village because it was so bad."

She continued to babble on and talk Link's ear off, everything from the Shield Sledding courses in the snowy mountains to the giant labyrinth in the Tabantha Tundra that she was too scared to go inside of. She told Link a lot about all the places she had been and the people she had met (the only reoccurring one was Beedle, that guy went everywhere apparently), and also the few places aside from the Gerudo Desert that she hadn't gone to yet. Death Mountain was one, because it dangerous for any non-Goron's, and while she'd been in Zora's Domain she hadn't visited the Palace because of their dislike of Hylians.

They stayed up so late that even Prima went to bed before them, saying that Link could just pay her in the morning. By the time they were both about to fall asleep in their chairs, it seemed she still had more to talk about, and would have if she wasn't yawning every two seconds. They split ways (Kaz had a bed on the second floor), and she told him to catch her sometime in the morning if he wanted to stick around for another day.

He was still debating if he wanted to stay or not, because his lost memories were nagging in the back of his head, begging to be let out of the little chest that had locked itself up tight. But he also figured that, after only a few days of being awake after his stupid long nap, he deserved a break. He hadn't taken anytime to himself, and while there was a voice telling him that _it's exceedingly selfish to want some 'me-time' with so much at stake_, another voice told him that he didn't owe anyone anything and it was time to take a short vacation.

He decided to sleep on it.

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The next morning, Link woke up around 7 in the morning and then went straight back to bed. He was too tired. Constantly traveling for several days straight really caught back up with him, because he ended up sleeping until 3 in the afternoon.

When he finally got up and paid Prima for the bed, Kaz was nowhere to be found. He ventured outside the little Inn and wondered if he'd find her nearby. He wanted to take her up on that tour of the town and hoped it wasn't too late.

He walked around the town without seeing her and waved to strangers that greeted him happily. He was considering going up to look at the fancy houses that he'd seen the night before while going to complete the shrine nearby, but then remembered what Kaz had said about her having a friend at the clothing shop.

Figuring that might be the best place to find her, he headed there after asking an older woman how to get there.

Upon entering, he saw a small set up front and center, displaying three different articles of clothing, and then behind that another feature with more clothes. He walked closer to the first feature, admiring the tan pants that were displayed in the middle. Those would be much more practical than the pair Link had on now. They might actually cover his ankles. Just as he reached up to feel the fabric, someone shouted from behind him.

"Hold on just a second!"

Link wheeled around to see a young girl around his age, if a bit younger, standing in the corner of the shop next to the door. She was looking at him with wide eyes and her face was bright red. She looked almost surprised, like she hadn't meant to yell at him.

He wasn't sure how he didn't see her when he walked in.

"Okay," she muttered when she had his attention, eyes darting every which way. "Let's see here...uh, thank you for waiting!" She cringed at her own words. He kind of felt bad.

"That'll be 90 rupees," she squeaked. He glanced back at the trousers before giving her a halfway smile.

"Um, no thanks."

She nodded solemnly. "Understood. Don't forget to take a look at the rest of our offerings!" With that, she took a step back into her corner and averted her gaze.

He wondered if this was that friend Kaz had mentioned. He took a step closer to her, noticing how she looked up at him with a blush. It almost reminded him of Paya.

"Sorry if I barged in," he said, thinking that might've been the cause of her nerves.

She shook her head. "No, it's alright! Ventest Clothing is open even to those who travel in the night! Were you looking for anything in particular?"

He shook his head. "Do you like this corner?" He asked after a moment.

That might've been the wrong move, because she didn't say anything for several seconds.

"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed. "Am I nestled too far in the corner? Is it hard to see me? I know it's a little weird, but I just feel more confident over here."

Link wasn't sure what exactly she considered confident to be (because it didn't look like standing in the corner was helping), but didn't want to embarrass her by asking. "It's okay. I just came in to ask if you knew Kaz? She mentioned having a friend who worked here, so I thought I might find her."

"Kaz?" The girl jumped again. "Oh, yes! I must been the friend she was speaking of. My name is Sophie, by the way."

"I'm Link," he said.

"I think Kaz mentioned you!" Sophie exclaimed. She quieted for a moment before blushing, tucking some of her brown hair behind her ear. It fell right back in her face. "She said you saved her."

The look of awe she was giving him made him shift uncomfortably.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, her face turning a darker red. She glanced away from him again and started to talk fast. "Well! That's not what she really said, but I knew what she meant. She'd said you dropped from the sky and helped kill a monster for her! Kaz always says she can handle herself out there, she's pretty good at fighting."

"Right," Link nodded slowly. "Do you know where I could find her?"

"Last I knew, she was checking out the construction on the old house at the edge of town!" Sophie said. "She's been thinking about moving here, but I think that the house they're tearing down is the only one she was really interested in."

"Okay," he nodded, remembering that Kaz had said the construction was by the new houses. "Thanks, Sophie. I'll see you around."

She didn't say anything and just stared at him, so he moved towards the door. Just as it swung shut behind him, he heard her squeak, "See you!"

He eyed the path that led up to the buildings, walking all the way to the top and stopping at the notice board to the right of him. He didn't read anything on it, because further back he caught sight of a wooden bridge that led over to a small, stand-alone house. And crouched on the end of the bridge closest to him, behind a tree, was Kaz.

She was far enough behind the tree, poking her head out over the side, that it was clear she was spying on the construction. Link smirked and started to make his way over, crouching low when he was close enough for her to hear.

He managed to get five feet away from her when she whirled around to look at him, red eyes blown wide. He froze for a moment, realizing he'd been caught, and then quickly crossed the rest of the way there, deciding to play it off.

He placed a hand on the tree on one side of her and then leaned around her to take a look at the construction. "Watcha doing?" He asked, smirking at her expression. She was clearly caught of guard.

He didn't realize how close he was to her until she placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back further behind the tree, until he was sitting completely on the ground.

"They'll see you," she said, peering around the tree again quickly. After a moment she turned back to him and sat down as well, crossing her legs and leaning back on the tree behind her.

"It's about time you got up and moving," she said, giving him a sly smile.

"I was tired," he defended himself. "And don't try to change the topic. What are you doing over here? Are you _spying _on them?"

She flushed red. "Maybe," was all she said. He raised his eyebrows and she swatted at the air in between them. "Okay, yes! I wanted to see how fast they were moving on tearing this place down. The answer is not very."

"Really?" He asked, starting to look around the tree again before she pulled him back.

"Yes, really. There's like three of them, including their boss, and he's not even doing anything," she explained. "It looks like it's going to take them a while before they make any real progress."

"Long enough for you to make a decision?" He asked. He thought a house in Hateno would be nice. Granted he hadn't seen much else in terms of options, but it seemed better, less isolated, than Kakiriko and the Great Plateau.

She shrugged. "Maybe. I guess I'll find out. My theory is that if it's still mostly intact when I come back here, then it was meant to be." Kaz nodded firmly at that, giving him a sideways grin.

"Sounds like a plan," he said, leaning back on his hands. "When do you plan on coming back? After you go to Kakiriko?"

"Probably not," she said honestly, looking up at the trees above them. "I tend to just go wherever, whenever."

He wondered about her family. About where she'd come from. Didn't she have people who missed her when went wherever, whenever?

It made him wonder if there was anyone who missed him when he left. When he died. Had Impa missed him? It'd been some time, but had they known each other well? Did the Princess miss him?

_Of course the Princess misses you. She's been waiting on you to come help her for 100 years_.

"So you don't know where you'll go after Kakiriko?" He asked instead of about her family. They didn't know each other very well at all, he didn't want to invade her privacy.

"Nope," she said with a pop, shaking her head. Her curls fell over her shoulder as she tilted her head at him. "Do you?"

No, he did not. He knew where he _could _go. Where he needed to. But he had yet to choose an option. He shook his head. "Not really. But I'll find out when I get there."

"When _we _get there," she said to him, and he stared at her for a moment. She rolled her eyes, not in a bad way, and cocked her head at him.

"It's gotta be like 4 o'clock by now. If you were leaving for Kakiriko today, you would've gone already," she said. "And if you were planning on leaving sometime soon, I'm not letting you."

He blinked at her confident and slightly demanding tone.

"I mean if you really wanted to, it's not like I could stop you," she said, the confidence wavering for a second before it came right back. "But I can try. I think you deserve to rest today, _after _I drag you around the town of course. I can take you to meet Sophie, she works at the clothing store here, and also help you buy some new clothes."

He was about to tell her he'd already met Sophie but stopped short. "Wait—new clothes?" She nodded, waving her hand in his direction.

"Link, no offense, but it looks like you pulled those out of some dead man's wardrobe," she said. "Not only are they too small for you, but they also look like they're about to fall apart."

He glanced down at his clothes with a frown, tugging the bottom hem of his shirt further down. "They're, um, borrowed."

"Well, I'm going to buy new clothes that are conveniently your size, and you're going to borrow those instead," she said, smiling at him. Her straightforwardness almost embarrassed him, but was also refreshing. But regardless, he didn't want her wasting her rupees.

"I don't want you to have to buy anything for me," he said.

"And I don't want you to die in those clothes," she retorted. "A lot of clothes nowadays have armor built in, or enchantments on them. You have less of a chance of being gravely injured in something made for people traveling than what you have now."

Her kindness was both astounding and nerve wracking. The fact that she would buy clothes for a stranger, someone she'd hardly known for a few days, was insane. Link wondered if most people were like this now, or if it was just Kaz. Or if maybe Kaz wasn't always like this, and it was just because of him.

But he didn't think he deserved it.

When he stayed quiet, she pursed her lips and told him, "Just consider it a thank you for helping me out when we first met."

"You showed me the way to Kakiriko," he said immediately, and now he _really _didn't think he deserved it. He was supposed to be a hero. Saving other people, that was supposed to be his job. And clearly, considering past events, he wasn't exactly good at it. Having a young girl he killed one monster for buy him clothes didn't seem fair. Not after everything else he failed to do.

"I would've done that for anyone," she said with a smile, shaking her head. "Now come on! Let's go shopping!"

She jumped to her feet and Link climbed up after her, and with one last look at the construction workers (she was right, they were going slow), they headed on back to the clothing store. He'd just try to talk her out of buying him clothes when they got there.

He had a feeling it was going to be harder said than done.

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**Disclaimer: I don't own the ideas, characters, or plot of Legend of Zelda**

**A\N: a quick shoutout to firesecrets! Thanks for the encouragement! It was really nice to know that some people are still reading and interested!**

**-blockthewriter**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

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He was right. It _was _easier said than done. In the end, Kaz not only bought him those pants he'd been eyeing earlier when he met Sophie, but she also bought him the colorful tunic that was displayed with them, and a green doublet that was enchanted to help withstand the cold.

"It's not as effective as the outfit I bought in Rito Village," she had told him, feeling the fabric, "but it's better than nothing, right?"

In return, Link insisted that he buy her one of the hoods they had displayed, and he got one for himself, too. When they were done they bid Sophie goodbye, Kaz promising that she'd come visit before she left, and exited the building.

"So, that was their clothing store," she said, looking around the town. "You've already see the construction sight. Have you seen the new buildings yet?"

"I passed by on my way to the shrine," he shrugged.

"That'll be good enough. If you want to look inside one, I can show you later," she told him, walking out to the middle of the street. Two kids ran around and in between them, laughing as they began to dart away.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Kaz asked, smiling at them.

"To spy on the little girl!" One of them yelled as they dashed off. Link furrowed his eyebrows, and looked to Kaz for an explanation.

"The Tech Lab, they mean," she elaborated, gesturing up to the building on the hill. "They once saw a little girl coming out and have been spying on the building ever since, trying to see her again. A lot of the adults don't believe them."

"Oh, yeah, I talked to some of them on my way up," he said, watching them hustle away. When he looked back to Kaz, she was watching him with a curious expression. He could tell that she also wanted to know about the little girl. He didn't want to go telling Purah's business, though, and so he just didn't say anything.

She got the hint that he wasn't going to spill the beans, and gestured to the building across the clothing store.

"Anyways, this is East Wind," she said. "It's the town's general store. They sell a lot of ingredients for food, as well as arrows and stuff. They've got a good stock of bomb arrows, if you're interested in that kind of thing."

"Bomb arrows?" He asked, keeping pace with her as she started to move on. "Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Potentially, yes," she nodded with a grin. "You'll want to make sure your a good aim before you actually use them. They're designed to explode on impact."

Link hummed in response, glancing back to the store for a second. They passed several houses, which Kaz said just belonged to town residents, and an old storage tower that she said had a little nook in the top that you could climb to from a ladder in the back.

They came to a stop in front of a larger building, which was built as a two story house with an opening in the bottom that led inside.

"This is the Kochi Dye Shop," she said, waving at the lady that was standing out front. "A lot of travelers come through to visit this place, because it's one of the only places in Hyrule to dye your clothes at."

"That sounds kind of cool," he muttered, peering inside to see a man with bright hair walking around inside.

"Do you want to dye anything?" She asked, and he shook his head.

"No," he said. "You just bought me these clothes. I don't want to risk the chance of the dye looking bad."

She grinned at him, patting his shoulder as they moved on. There were no more shops to show him, but she did point out different places, like the community cooking area next to the Inn, as well as the stables for anyone traveling through. By the time they were done with the tour it was 8 at night, and they both decided that they would head back to the Inn and try to get an early nights rest.

"What time do you want to leave tomorrow?" Kaz asked him, standing on the steps that would lead her to the second floor.

She had the new hood he got her on, clipped around her shoulders but not pulled up. He'd been surprised she let him buy it at all, but he figured that she allowed it because she understood how the guilt was eating him up. He really didn't think that he deserved the clothes she bought him, and she'd caught wind of it. He wasn't even sure how she knew, she just seemed to read other people easily.

He wasn't sure it was a good thing or not.

"Is 6 too early?" He asked, tilting his head at her. She smiled at him and shook her head.

"Not at all," she said, taking a step off of the stairs and towards the front desk. "I'll go let Prima know to wake us up in time. Goodnight, Link."

He mumbled a quiet 'goodnight' as she walked off, and watched her for a moment before heading off to his bed.

All in all, he was glad that he had stayed in Hateno that day. For one, he caught up on a lot of sleep that he thought was well needed. Throughout the day he could feel how a good rest kept him more energized than he'd felt since waking up on the Great Plateau.

And with Kaz around, he'd hardly thought about his lost memories at all, or the Divine Beasts, or Princess Zelda, or Calamity Ganon. The tasks ahead weren't looming over him like a thinly veiled threat, they were far and distant in his mind as he learned about the small town.

His mind drifted back to the house on the edge of town being torn down. Hateno seemed like a great place to live. He didn't think he would mind settling down there once his business was finished, assuming he survived it.

That was a morbid thought. Up until then, the thought hadn't struck him that he could die in the upcoming battles. He had done it once, who's to say it couldn't happen again. He only prayed that this time around he actually finished the job.

.

Kaz must have woken up before Prima had come around to get them, because when the Innkeeper woke Link up in the morning, she was already out in the town apparently.

He hadn't slept as good as he had the night before, but it still was enough for him to feel energized and ready for the day. He wasn't quite sure how long it would take them to get back to Kakiriko, mainly because he had gotten to Hateno quicker than Kaz said he might.

That could have been because he was able to cover a lot of ground paragliding from the tower, and also because he moved fast and made no time to rest or anything. Not that it was a bad thing, but he nearly expected to go slower with Kaz around. As fast-paced as she seemed, she never looked to be in a hurry to get anywhere, and he wouldn't be surprised if she made them stop every so often to get some rest, either.

He was happy for the company either way. As selfish as he felt for it, he was really glad that Kaz was going to Kakiriko and had actually wanted to travel with him there. He felt guilty for it, especially since the chances of them running into something dangerous would probably sky rocket with him around. But, she was traveling with him entirely of freewill and her own violation. It was completely her idea.

It's not like he could force her to not travel with him, could he?

No, he couldn't. And he didn't want to, anyway, so for now he would just go to Kakiriko with her. He'd enjoy having company while it lasted and then set off for the Divine Beasts, by himself, so he could endanger as little people as possible.

As his mind turned to question what exactly he'd have to do trying to conquer the Divine Beasts, a topic he didn't want to think about quite yet, he gathered the last of his things and set off outside in search of Kaz. It turned out that if he would've looked outside the window he would have just seen her in the cooking area outside.

The morning sun casted a serene light around the town, and as he approached her, he took in how peaceful it was here. He couldn't imagine why Kaz had any hesitation living here, and figured that the other places she'd seen in Hyrule must have been beautiful to make her second guess it. He wondered if his search for a Divine Beast would take him to Akkla. She'd said it was pretty there.

"Morning, Link," she said, looking a sleepy sort of chipper, sitting there and smiling at the cooking pot in front of her. It was clear that she would have no hesitation crawling back into bed if he said he wanted to leave later, but she still looked strangely optimistic. He wondered why she got up so early.

"Good morning," he said, sitting down on the bench across from her. The pot between them was full of fruit, simmering lightly and filling the air between them with a really nice smell.

His stomach grumbled, loud enough that him _and _Kaz heard. They looked at each other, startled, and when she started to laugh his face turned a furious shade of red.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. She waved him off and stirred the fruit, grinning at him.

"It's alright. You got here just in time, it's basically done," she said, pointing the wooden spoon she held at him. "Grab two bowls over there, would you?"

He nodded, willing his face to stop feeling so hot as he got up for a moment to grab the wooden bowls on the shelves.

She put half of the fruit in one bowl and then half in the other, explaining to him just what was in them as she grabbed some forks. They ate in quickly, mostly in silence, before Link asked why she'd gotten up early,

"Oh," she said, wiping her sleeve across her mouth. "I got up to go say bye to Sophie at the store. I wasn't sure if you knew her well enough to want to say goodbye. We can go check in before we leave if you want."

"They're open this early?" He asked, looking down the street in the direction of the clothing store. The town was still quiet, with only one or two people milling about at the moment. He figured everyone else was still in bed, not due to wake up for another hour or two.

"Yeah, all of the shops are," Kaz nodded. "'Cept for the dye shop. I don't think any of them get much business at this time, but they open for any travelers who happen to be up. Like us."

Link hummed at that, eating another bite of his food as he continued to look around. A few minutes later and they were both done, washing their bowls in a wooden bucket of water and gathering up their things to go.

Neither of them carried much. Link just had his weapons, a small satchel with some expansion charm that allowed him to hold a lot of things than seemed possible, and his paraglider and Sheikah Slate.

Ross only had a small backpack (also with an expansion charm, apparently things like that were fairly common) and a longsword at her hip. She didn't have her shield like when they'd first met.

They headed towards the front entrance of town that would start then back towards the Dueling Peaks Stable, walking through the stone gateway thing they had set up. They waved goodbye to the man that was watching the entrance, and started on down a path towards the woods below.

As they went, Link remembered that his Sheikah Slate had some sort of quick travel ability. He hadn't tried it out yet, but he knew that the shrine in Hateno and the one in Kakiriko both had travel guides on them now, meaning that he could travel from one place or another quickly.

However, with Kaz only with him, it was no longer an option. He didn't even know if it would work with more than one person, and even if it _did_, not only did it seem too late to mention it, but he wanted to try it out first on his own. Just in case.

And besides, Kaz seemed to be a really curious person. He was kind of surprised she hadn't pressed him about certain questions, but it seemed she knew when to stop pushing things. He still wouldn't put it past her to ask about the Sheikah Slate more, like what it was exactly and how he'd gotten his hands on it.

And those weren't questions he really wanted to answer quite yet.

"So," Kaz said, catching his attention. She was looking up towards Hateno tower. "I see you've already activated that tower. You don't need to go back up there for anything, right?"

He shook his head no.

"Great! I mean, I kinda want to climb up one, but preferably one you haven't gotten to yet. I want to be there when you activate it," she grinned at him. "But anyways, since you don't need to go there, we can take the path that goes by the Camphor Pond. It's a lot quicker to Fort Hateno than the path that goes south."

Link nodded, vaguely wondering how she was so familiar with the area and then figuring she'd had a lot of experience traveling around. Did she always use the paths? Or did she ever just go straight through the map?

He was about to ask when they heard a scream to the right, off the path and deeper into the woods.

They both exchanged quick glances before darting towards the sound.

Unlike when he'd seen Kaz being attacked by monsters, he didn't hesitate to rush to the defense. It was clear that Kaz had had it under control to some extent when she was fighting off the bokoblins, but the cry that echoed between the forest trees suggested that whoever was there did _not _have control.

Link could see them through the trees now. There were two girls. One was laying unconscious at the base of a tree, and there was a blue bokoblin standing over her. The other girl was running towards them, stumbling in her stride as a red bokoblin clipped her side with it's club.

Link pulled the rusted broadsword he had found from it's sheath, charging towards the girl and the monster with a war cry. The girl dropped to the ground when they were only feet away, and Link jumped over her and slashed the bokoblin across the chest, knocking it backwards.

It roared out at him, lifting it's club up to swing, but he swung upwards with his sword, catching the monster's wrist and knocking the club from it's hand.

Angered, it took a moment to screech in his face (not a smart move on it's part) and Link stabbed it straight through it's stomach. He pulled his sword out and it collapsed with a cry, dissolving into dust only moments later.

He looked up to see that Kaz was handling the other bokoblin, dodging out of the way of a rock it hurled at her before she swung at it's chest. It jumped back away from her, towards Link, and he took the chance to go at it from behind, slashing upwards across it's back and then swinging at it's neck. Had his sword's edge been sharper, it probably would've have taken it's head clean off, but instead it only lodged its self halfway in it's neck.

It was still enough to kill the thing though, and Link pulled his sword free as it fell to the ground.

Behind him, the girl that he'd saved made a strange noise that had both him and Kaz turning towards her, and then she started to thank them profusely. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed, stepping forward and clasping her hands in front of her. "I don't know what would have happened if you two hadn't of shown up!"

She rushed past them to the other girl, who was now sitting up from where she lay, rubbing a hand on the side of her head.

"My sister always insists on looking for hearty truffles," the first girl said, kneeling at the other one's side. "She doesn't seem to care about how dangerous it is out here."

"Is this the first time you guys have been attacked?" Kaz asked.

"Oh definitely not," the second girl muttered, gathering her bearings as she climbed to her feet. "But I'm willing to deal with it if it means I can find hearty truffles!"

"See what I mean?" The first girl said, ignoring the glare her sister sent her.

"I'd just suggest being more careful?" Kaz said with a shrug. "Stick together and maybe think about learning how to use weapons to defend yourself."

The second sister stared at them for a second before shrugging. "Eh, seems to be working fine as it is. Thank you, though. Now let's go, I thought I saw one over there." She started off into the trees and the first girl stared at her with exasperation before turning back to them.

"Thank you so much," she said again, dipping her head at them. "Please stay safe on your travels." And with that she rushed after her sister, further into the woods.

"Hearty truffles?" Link asked Kaz, wondering what could be so special about them to risk danger just to find them.

She was knelt on the ground and gathering the monster parts that were laying in the dust, shaking them off before placing them into her sack.

"A type of mushroom," she said, shuffling around him in a crouch so she could pick up the parts from the other bokoblin. She stood up and handed these to him.

She stared after the girls thoughtfully as he placed them in his bag. She glanced to him before turning herself towards the trail again. "It's supposed to have increased healing properties when you cook them. They're very rare, though."

He hummed at her description as he followed behind. "Is it worth the risk?" He asked.

Kaz shrugged. "Maybe. If they carried swords and knew how to defend themselves I'd say it is. But without anything to fight with, I'd say not."

"Do a lot of people travel without weapons?" He asked.

Around them, the morning light was filtering in through the trees, casting a warm glow on the path they were walking.

"More than you'd think," she said. "There's very few people I've met who actually carry swords. I think a big part of it is due to the attention they'd get from the Yiga Clan. Another is probably because they just simply don't know how to use them."

"I figured it'd be common to know how," he muttered, frowning. Why did these people not try to know how to defend themselves properly? As dangerous as they made the world seem to be during these times, they sure didn't act like they were at risk when they travelled.

"It was common, back when they Knights of Hyrule were still around, apparently," she told him. "But not anymore. I know the Gerudo women all know how to fight, though. I'd actually learned from some of them when I was younger. Aside from them, it's all sort of spotty."

"You learned from the Gerudo?" He asked, interested. She nodded, smiling with pride.

"Oh yes. It's actually Gerudo custom to leave the desert and travel across Hyrule in search of someone to marry and have children with," she explained. "That being said, a lot of them would come through the stable I grew up at. Whenever they stayed I would beg them for lessons and tips."

So she'd grown up at a stable? That explained how well she'd handled the horse when she was teaching Link how to mount them. It also might explain how she knew so much about the different roads one travel. She'd probably learned from experience and from the people who passed through the stable she lived at.

"But I also learned a lot from some of the other people who worked at the stable," she continued. "That's where I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. One of the stablehands taught me how."

"You know how to shoot?" He asked her. His tone must have sounded a bit too surprised by the fact, because she gave him a defensive look.

"Well—Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

He was quick to backtrack, not really wanting to piss her off so early in their travels. "You don't carry one with you, is all. I wasn't sure."

"I guess that makes sense. Bows are actually very hard to get a hold of, depending on where you are," she said. "I don't think I've ever come across a vendor that sells them. Usually you've just got to find one. I tend to just take them from monsters."

"That's where I got mine," he said. He'd taken it from some bokoblins, and while it wasn't the most sturdy thing, it got the job done.

"That's how most people get weapons, really," she said. "Or in the occasional treasure chest hiding about."

Link nodded, distinctly guessing about how some of those chests even got to where they were. He didn't ask, though, because he figured that she wouldn't know.

They fell into a quiet walk, which was really just Kaz chatting off about different things when she saw them, but just like the first time they traveled together, Link didn't necessarily mind. He found that it kept him from thinking about the endless stream of issues he seemed to have, everything from his lost memories, to the trapped princess, to his century long nap, and how he was going to sneakily pay Kaz back for the clothes she bought him.

(Right now he was just debating sliding whatever rupees he had into her bag when she wasn't looking).

After exiting the woods, the path they were on trailed along the edge of a cliff. Link got a bit closer to it, leaning over to take a look at what lay below. It was a small body of water, and Kaz told him it was Camphor Pond.

Beyond the pond, down in a clearing that was littered with a few trees, Link could see the ruins of what could have been buildings. He want close enough to be sure, but he could make out some dark stone pillars among other things.

As the path began to go down, he saw that it eventually led directly by the small area of ruins. Now he could see some old wooden fences, crumbled arches, and walls that were hardly standing. He saw that the road forked up ahead, one branch leading off to the right and into a small gorge, and the other directly to the ruins.

As they got closer, Kaz must have noticed how he was eyeing the old structures.

"It's an old riding course," she said when they reached the fork in the path. She stopped, and Link read the signs that were set up. One pointed back to where they'd come from and said _Hateno Village_. The other one said _Equestrain Riding Course_.

"It might've been poplar back when it was first built," she said thoughtfully. "I know there's a path that runs full circle, and there are targets set up so you can test your archery on horse back."

"It sounds like a nice challenge," he said. Shooting arrows on horse back? That sounded very handy. Would he be able to pull that off now? It was clear he was still kind of rusty with a bow. He'd taken to sword fighting way faster. Maybe with more practice shooting he would be able to try it.

_And more practice riding a horse, at that_. He was sure that there was a lot of technique and skill required to shoot a bow and arrow while riding horseback full speed.

"Yeah, probably," Kaz shrugged. "But it's become a bit of a monster hub over the years. Last time I looked there were quite a few Moblins and Bokoblins. They usually don't venture out and most people stay clear of going in."

"No ones thought to come get rid of them?"

She gave him a sideways look with a small grin. "Not everyone's so keen to take on monsters, Link. Like we were talking about earlier, a lot of people don't even know how to fight."

"You know how to fight," he said, realizing a second after he said it how accusing it must have sounded.

Thankfully, she didn't take it that way.

"Yeah, I know," she said. "But because it's sort of like a regular monster camp, they just revive here after the Blood Moon. Really inconvenient and not worth the hassle to me. I went in once and tried to clear it out, but there were too many monsters. I ended up having to run for it."

Link hummed, staring down the old pathway. Part of him wanted to go there now, and clear out the monsters with Kaz's help. But it didn't seem like she was really jumping at the chance to go and fight for the freedom of an old horse track. With a small sigh, he turned back to the other path, the one that would take them to Fort Hateno.

Maybe some other day.

Kaz ended up saying as much as they walked on. "Maybe when we come back—_if _you come back—we could take them on. Preferably with stronger weapons."

"Definitely stronger weapons," he replied. He did not miss the way she said '_we'_. He briefly entertained the idea of traveling with her long enough to come back to Hateno.

Both were for naught. Him and Kaz would split up once they reached Kakiriko. His business in Hateno was done, unless Lady Impa sent him back for some other reason. He really did like the village though, and would love to go see it. He remembered what Purah had said about the ancient materials. That would be a perfect excuse to visit, but he didn't see it happening any time soon.

He had too many things to do.

.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the ideas, characters, or plot of Legend of Zelda**


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